Because he didn’t cross the finish line in time, Charles Leclerc was left without a time in SQ3 – the engine ran out in the pit lane
Charles Leclerc says a problem with the car’s anti-stall mode meant he was unable to set a time in SQ3 during sprint qualifying at Spielberg and will therefore only start Saturday’s sprint from tenth place
Leclerc had lined up between his rivals in the pit lane to prepare for his only fast attempt in SQ3, but he suddenly pulled out of the fast lane in his Ferrari and let Pierre Gasly (Alpine) past.
After a slight delay, Leclerc was able to follow the field out of the pits, but there was not enough time for him to cross the finish line in time for a fast lap. Leclerc crossed the lights seconds after the chequered flag fell and was therefore unable to complete a lap.
“What the hell happened, guys?” he asked his race engineer Bryan Bozzi on the radio shortly afterwards. The answers can be read in the radio log:
Bozzi: “We’re in anti-stall mode“
Leclerc: “Yes, thanks, but the anti-stall can’t stop the engine“
Leclerc: “The engine has run out. I don’t know if you noticed, but the engine was off. The ignition went to off and I had to restart the whole thing“
Bozzi: “Understood. Box, we’ll talk in the garage“
Leclerc: “Please let me know what it was as soon as I get out of the car“
Bozzi: “Yes, as soon as you’re in, we’ll talk about it “
Leclerc has pulled up in the pit lane, something’s wrong F1Sprint AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/ZDCi8Fkt0l
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However, Leclerc had not yet received any precise answers when he stepped in front of the microphones after the session: “I don’t know what happened,” said the Monegasque. “I was in the pit lane and then the anti-stall came and everything went out. The team told me we’d talk when I got back to the garage, but I came straight here from the car, so I don’t know.”
Theoretically, however, Leclerc could still have made it across the finish line. In the second sector of his warm-up lap, Leclerc’s time of 31.9 seconds was three seconds slower than Lando Norris, who took 28.9 seconds on his flying lap. In the final sector, his time of 21.0 seconds was 1.6 seconds slower than Max Verstappen (19.4).
As he crossed the line just two seconds after the time had expired, it would have been possible – but a good time would probably not have been possible
The fact is that Leclerc will only start from tenth place in the sprint. He doesn’t know what would have been possible without the problem, but he doesn’t think it would have been possible to finish at the front: “We weren’t super strong, but better than tenth place, so it’s a bit disappointing,” said Leclerc, whose team-mate Carlos Sainz finished fifth.
“We’ll see what happened and then we’ll try to have a good sprint race tomorrow,” he says. “Then we’ll try to get back to the front. “
