Charles Leclerc: ‘Cannot stand’ new F1 qualifying rules after mistake costs Ferrari driver on straight

Charles Leclerc vented his frustration at Formula 1’s new rules after a mistake in qualifying on the Japanese Grand Prix upset his energy unit’s vitality deployment and value him expensive.

The Ferrari driver certified fourth at Suzuka, over 0.6 seconds off Kimi Antonelli‘s Mercedes on pole place, however was the quickest driver by means of the primary sector of the lap in Q3.

A slide on the exit of Spoon nook appeared to price him time, however he mentioned it was the loss in vitality deployment that it triggered on the next straight that proved costliest.

“I honestly cannot stand these rules in qualifying,” Leclerc mentioned over workforce radio as he returned to the pits after his lap. “It’s a f—— joke.

“I’m going sooner in corners, I’m going on throttle earlier, for f—- sake, I lose every part within the straight.”

Comparing Leclerc’s fastest lap in Q2 with his fastest lap in Q3, an apparent drop off in energy deployment on the straight following the slide cost him 0.148 seconds.

New rules this season demand nearly half of the maximum power output of the power unit comes from its battery, which means cars can be left down on power when the electrical energy is depleted or the deployment strategy interrupted by an unexpected lift off the throttle.

A number of drivers, including Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix, have reported that small errors that require a tiny lift on the throttle can dramatically upset the power deployment later in the lap.

– Japanese Grand Prix: Max Verstappen ‘beyond frustrated’ after Q2 exit
– ‘It hurts your soul’ – Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso among those underwhelmed by Suzuka qualifying
– Kimi Antonelli beats teammate Russell to pole in Suzuka

Leclerc said the slide on the exit of Spoon corner had not worried him at the moment, but admitted he was frustrated by the resulting loss in deployment on the flat-out run to the final chicane.

“It stayed fairly calm [during the slide]I’d say that when on the straights and also you begin dropping time being flat out is the place my coronary heart fee goes significantly excessive,” he said.

“But within the nook itself, I imply, these are the sort of issues that occur in Q3 and particularly with my driving type I do know it occurs fairly often.

“In the past it paid off more than it hurts you, but with these cars it seems to bite you more than it pays off just because then I lost a big amount of speed in the straight — not a huge amount nothing close to whatever I’ve had in Shanghai but still I’ve lost some time compared to my Q2 lap which is very frustrating but this is something we’ll look at and try to understand.”

Leclerc mentioned the new rules not reward danger taking, and as a substitute put an emphasis on consistency from lap to lap.

“Honestly, I think the thing is in Q3 that’s where you want to get out on the track and try things you’ve never tried before, taking risks that you’ve never taken before and that’s been rewarding for most of us in all our career and now this is not possible anymore,” he mentioned.

“Every time you go a little bit over the limit, any time you have a bit of a snap this is costing energy on the power unit side and then you pay the price more.

“I really feel like in the meanwhile consistency is paying off greater than being courageous and going to take one thing that you’ve got by no means tried earlier than, which is a disgrace and which makes qualifying just a little bit much less difficult.

“This is something that we need to work on but it’s a known issue, it’s not that the FIA ​​or the teams are just accepting the situation as it is there’s a lot of work behind the scenes and I hope that we can find a solution as soon as possible.”