MONTMELO, Spain — Charles Leclerc suspects a mechanical problem was accountable for his lack of tempo in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver will begin nineteenth on Sunday’s grid after ending the primary session of qualifying over 0.6s shy of teammate Carlos Sainz and because the second slowest driver.

Leclerc mentioned the automobile was struggling for efficiency in right-hand corners, and whereas he initially thought it was associated to his rear tyres, he’s now satisfied there was a mechanical problem on his automobile.

“We should examine the info and most of all examine the automobile as a result of there was undoubtedly one thing unusual,” he mentioned. “I almost misplaced it throughout the crimson flag [in Q1] and I used to be at 70 km/h and there was simply no warning.

“The left-hand corners had been actually, actually dangerous, with the rear proper and I first thought it was the tyres, so we went with a brand new set of tyres and on the brand new set of tyres it was the identical feeling — right-hand corners actually good, left-hand corners fully off.

“We should examine, however I’d be very stunned if we do not discover one thing on the automobile.”

Ferrari has debuted an aerodynamic improve this weekend, however Leclerc thinks his struggles are fully unrelated.

“I believe mechanical,” he mentioned. “Our aero package deal is the brand new one since yesterday and it labored rather well. I do not assume it’s aero clever.

“It’ll be an uphill weekend, to be sincere. Then again, it is a observe the place we’ll see fairly just a few pit stops, tyre degradation goes to be a giant factor tomorrow, so if we do a great job on that we’re going to enhance our probabilities.”