Leclerc rues his mistake in the last corner for his disappointing qualifying performance

Having delivered eye-catching pace through the practice sessions at the British Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was left to blame a mistake in the last corner on his final push lap that resulted in a suboptimal sixth starting position for today's Silverstone race.

Drizzle at the start of qualifying meant that three minutes into the session, Ferrari sent Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton out on track for their first run.

The session was red flagged after seven minutes, when Franco Colapinto went off at the final corner. Ferrari were eager to only a single set in Q1 which put both drivers in danger and on the verge of getting knocked out in Q1.

In Q2, Hamilton and Leclerc went out on the same set of softs they used in the opening qualifying session, but their second run on a fresh set of red-walled tyres saw the Briton and the Monegasque end up first and second quickest respectively.

It looked like Ferrari had the pace to fight for pole position, but both Hamilton and Leclerc made a mistake in the very last corner of the Silverstone track which left them fifth and sixth on the grid for tomorrow's British Grand Prix.

Reflecting on his day, Leclerc stated: "I’m not happy with my qualifying today. The mistake in the last corner of my final lap in Q3 cost me at least one or two tenths, which in this case could have put me on the front row for the race.

"That's disappointing, and I will focus on putting it all together going forward. With our car being stronger in the race than in qualifying so far this season, there is a chance we can do something tomorrow.

"I think the pace was there for the front row but I eventually didn’t do the job when I needed to. I lost the car in the last two corners and lost a lot of lap time.

“That’s been the story of the season, I need to find back my rhythm in Qualifying because I’m really struggling and I’m not putting everything together, and all the time I get out of the car there’s always one thing that hasn’t gone my way in Qualifying, so I’m very frustrated with myself more than anything.

“I know that in the race I’m doing a really good job generally, but I’ve got to put everything together.”

However, starting from the third row means we have to fight our way forward at the start, which we pay for later in the race due to tyre degradation. We will have to find the right balance tomorrow and work on bringing a good result home for the team," concluded Leclerc.