‘I don’t understand anything at Formula 1!’ – Leclerc stunned by unexpected pole position in Hungary Qualifying

Charles Leclerc admitted that he “did not expect” to claim pole position during Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver revealing that trying to manage the changing conditions made it an “extremely difficult” session.

While the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris looked to have a clear edge during the earlier stages, the wind and drops of rain in Q2 contributed to a change in track conditions, making Q3 a tougher segment for the papaya cars.

It was also tricky for Leclerc – but the Monegasque unexpectedly got the better of the field by pumping in a 1m 15.372s, beating Piastri by less than three-hundredths of a second to clinch his and the Scuderia’s first pole position of the season.

“Today I don’t understand anything at Formula 1!” a stunned Leclerc reflected after jumping out of the car. “Honestly the whole Qualifying has been extremely difficult – when I say extremely difficult it’s not exaggerating. It was super, super difficult.

“It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. Q3 the conditions changed a little bit, everything became a lot trickier and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end, it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.”

Pushed on whether he could feel the change in grip as the conditions evolved, the 27-year-old explained: “Yeah, I could definitely feel it a lot and I was also on the lower side of the downforce, so when the rain started in Q2 I was just hoping that it wouldn’t stay there.

“It didn’t, the conditions changed which made everything very tricky, and at the end we are on pole position. Honestly I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had because it’s the most unexpected for sure.”

Now Leclerc faces the challenge of trying to convert that pole into a first victory of the campaign, with his best result so far this season being a P2 at his home event in Monaco.

In terms of how confident he is of holding the lead into Turn 1 and going on to win Sunday’s race, the Ferrari driver conceded: “The start and Turn 1 will be key.

“I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I will do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place – if we manage to do that then that should make our life easier for the rest of the race.”