Leclerc felt himself 'horrible" in qualifying until his final push lap

Hot on the heels of his sensational final flying lap in Q3 that earned him a pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc conceded that he had felt himself "horrible" until the dying stages of the last qualifying segment.

Ferrari endured a challenging day at the Hungaroring. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton displayed great pace in final practice, ending up third and fourth, respectively.

However, the conditions changed massively for qualifying, with track temperatures having dropped and the wind having picked up. This seemingly affected Ferrari more than their rivals.

Hamilton struggled in Q1, but made it through into Q2, albeit he was unable to achieve anything more than a P12 on the grid for tomorrow’s Budapest race.

His team-mate Leclerc struggled across the opening two sessions as well, but progressed into Q3. After his first hot lap, he found himself in a disappointing P7, but he delivered again when it mattered to secure an absolutely astonishing pole position for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Reflecting on his qualifying, Leclerc conceded that he had felt himself "horrible" until the dying stages of the last qualifying segment.

"Today is a day where I don't understand anything anymore about the sport. I mean, honestly, qualifying felt horrible from the first lap to maybe the penultimate lap. Everything felt out of place.

"It really felt like we had done a step backwards from FP3. And in terms of competitiveness: Q1, I was on the limit, barely made it to Q2. Q2, I was on the limit and I did quite a big mistake in Turn 4. It wasn't easy to get to Q3.

The Monegasque continued: "And then Q3, the conditions changed for everybody. I basically just did a clean lap, and I think it was a really good lap because those conditions were very difficult to get everything right. And I did, but I was really happy about the lap.

"And it's probably the most surprising pole position I've ever done. I think after FP3 it wouldn't have been so surprising but, after Q1 and Q2, I really thought we would struggle to get into the top five even. So I'm very happy."