{"id":661656,"date":"2026-06-27T20:17:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661656\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T20:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:17:18","slug":"charles-leclerc-targets-confidence-boost-after-p2-in-austrian-grand-prix-qualifying-as-he-assesses-ferrari-chances-against-mercedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661656\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Leclerc targets confidence boost after P2 in Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying as he assesses Ferrari chances against Mercedes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charles Leclerc has conceded he feels like \u201cI\u2019m leaving a little bit of margin\u201d in Qualifying and that he hopes to regain confidence following a tough run of weekends, despite claiming P2 on the grid for Sunday\u2019s Austrian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The Ferrari<\/a> man will line up ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton<\/a> after Mercedes\u2019 George Russell<\/a> sealed pole amid a dramatic end to Qualifying \u2013 Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen<\/a> crashed out on his final effort while Russell\u2019s was still good enough for top spot despite having to lift for the yellow flag that came out for the Dutchman.<\/p>\n

However, Leclerc\u2019s<\/a> P2 result marks a change in Qualifying fortunes after a challenging run of weekends, with the Monegasque crashing out on Saturday in both Monaco and Barcelona before mechanical issues denied him any points in those respective Grands Prix.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, Leclerc conceded he was conscious of having a clean weekend this time around at the Red Bull Ring<\/a> as he looks to recover some lost levels of confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m a bit happier but then I\u2019m never really satisfied unless I\u2019m on pole or I win,\u201d Leclerc said when asked if he was pleased with the result. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time as well so I just hope this changes very quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, at the same time, it\u2019s true in the last two weekends that on Saturdays it was tough but we had the pace I would say. But then, on the Sundays, we had mechanical problems. We didn\u2019t score points and that kind of stays a bit in the head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot lie, since then you have a bit of a mentality of just trying to do a clean lap and having a clean weekend \u2013 [to] start to score points again and getting into the rhythm again. I feel like I\u2019m leaving a little bit of margin on the table in Qualifying, which is normal after the last few weekends. I just hope I get back to the level of confidence I had before to try and extract more from this car.\u201d<\/p>\n

With team mate Hamilton behind in P3, and the Ferraris sandwiched between the two Mercedes of Russell and Kimi Antonelli<\/a> in fourth, Leclerc vowed that he and the Scuderia would try everything to challenge the Silver Arrows in Sunday\u2019s Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

However, the Monegasque also conceded that the Mercedes cars were going to be tough opposition in Spielberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be very difficult,\u201d he explained when ask if Ferrari could take the fight. \u201cThey seem to be very strong and they were very strong on Friday but I don\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try everything tomorrow and we\u2019ll see how it goes but at the moment I think Mercedes has an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hamilton, following his fairytale maiden win for Ferrari in Barcelona, P3 represented a solid performance particularly after a mistake on his first Q3 run ramped up the pressure to nail a solid a lap on his final attempt.<\/p>\n

However, he also agreed with Leclerc that his former team \u2013 where he won six of his seven World Championships \u2013 appeared to still have the edge despite Ferrari closing the deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we made progress overnight and we closed the gap a little bit \u2013 half the gap,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cWe were six tenths down and now, today, we were just under three tenths so that\u2019s a real positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the race pace, I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to be and how we drive it tomorrow. Hopefully we can be closer to them tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime will tell \u2013 the good thing is there\u2019s two Ferraris there sandwiched between the two Mercedes so hopefully we can execute the strategy to really keep them on the heels.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charles Leclerc has conceded he feels like \u201cI\u2019m leaving a little bit of margin\u201d in Qualifying and that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-661656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}