Charles Leclerc does not ‘understand anything about Formula 1’ after shock Hungarian GP pole

Charles Leclerc said he does not “understand anything about Formula 1” after shocking the McLarens to take pole in Hungary.

With McLaren going one-two in all three practice sessions, one of its drivers taking pole seemed inevitable, but Leclerc produced one of the laps of his career to secure Ferrari’s first pole of the year.

Charles Leclerc reacts after stunning Hungarian GP pole

Before the decisive Q3 shootout, Leclerc had failed to go faster than fifth, but got round the Hungaroring in 1:15.372, putting him 0.026 seconds clear of second-placed Oscar Piastri.

After, a visibly shocked Leclerc admitted he did not “understand anything about Formula 1” following the result.

“Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult,” he said. “When I say extremely difficult, it’s not exaggerating.

“It was super, super difficult. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. The conditions changed a little bit, everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third.

“At the end of the day, it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.”

The tricky conditions Leclerc referred to came in the form of cloud cover, which varied throughout the session, bringing track temperature down and meaning timing of when to send drivers out was crucial.

Having navigated that, Leclerc said he had “no words” and described it as “one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had.”

“I could definitely feel it a lot,” Leclerc said of the condition changes. “When the rain started in Q2, I was just hoping that it wouldn’t stay there.

“It didn’t. The conditions changed, which made everything very tricky. And at the end, we are in pole position.

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“Honestly, I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had, because it’s the most unexpected for sure.”

As for the race, Leclerc admitted he had “no idea” how it would pan but said he will do “absolutely everything” to remain in first.

“The start and Turn 1 will be key,” he said. “I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I’ll do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place.

“If we manage to do that, then that should make our life easier for the rest of the race.”

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