Leclerc concedes feeling ‘a little bit disappointed’ to miss pole in Mexico

Charles Leclerc was left disappointed after missing out on pole for the Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver beginning to believe it was possible.

Leclerc fell 0.262s shy of Lando Norris in Qualifying after setting the early pace in Q3 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Saturday.

Although Leclerc had been on the pace across the weekend and topped Free Practice 1, he had been unhappy with the balance of his Ferrari, complaining of a lack of grip – a theme that continued into Qualifying.

But a storming effort in Q3 launched the Monegasque onto provisional pole for Sunday's 71-lap race, before a stunning final lap from Norris ended up pipping him to top spot.

“This Qualifying is very, very difficult because there's very little grip, so the car is sliding a lot,” he said after the session. “In order to put everything together, it's very tricky, but I'm pretty happy with the job we've done.”

Leclerc added: “There’s a part of me that is still a little bit disappointed, because when I saw in Q3 that I was P1 with a good lap, I was like ‘okay, maybe then I can believe in being on pole’. But in the end, [Norris] did a great job, and a great lap at the end.

“He improved massively from the first to the second run in Q3, and I’m happy with how it went.”

Leclerc is aiming to secure back-to-back podiums for the first time since Monaco and Spain, and vowed to give it his all at the start on Sunday, despite the likelihood that he will be without a tow on the long run to Turn 1.

“There will be a lot of focus on the start,” he explained. “The run to Turn 1 is very long, and we’ve got to do the best possible start. I wish I was P3 for the start, because at least you get a little bit of slipstream.

“I probably won’t have any slipstream in front of me, and I’m starting on the dirty side of the track. But I will focus on what I can control and try to do the best from where we start, which hopefully, will be enough to take the lead into Turn 1.”