Ferrari has explained why the team decided at the last minute to fit a fresh set of tyres to Charles Leclerc’s car in Saturday’s qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, something that to many, including Leclerc himself, appeared to be yet another a cock up.

Ferrari appeared to have made yet another strategic error in Saturday’s qualifying session at the Belgian Grand Prix, sending driver Charles Leclerc out on different tyres to those normally used: “Wait, what are these tyres?” exclaimed Charles Leclerc over the radio as he left the garage in Q3. “Sorry, it’s a mistake,” replied his engineer.

But after the qualifying session, in which Leclerc qualified fourth, Scuderia Ferrari’s sporting director Laurent Mekies explained why the Monegasque ended up on different tyres.

“With Charles, the priority was to beat the other cars that also had engine penalties, and in the end we decided at the last moment to run him on a new set of soft tyres in Q3 to ensure the highest possible position,” explained the Frenchman.

Charles Leclerc is also one of a group of drivers who received engine penalties on the grid in Belgium, forcing the Monegasque to start from sixteenth place on Sunday, just behind his rival Max Verstappen.

The fact that he fitted a set of new soft tyres to his car in qualifying means that Charles Leclerc will still have an allocation of tyres for the race on Sunday, allowing him to fight his way through the field in a bid to move up the order in the opening laps of the Belgian Grand Prix.

“That still leaves him with a very healthy new tyre allocation for tomorrow [Sunday] to fight hard in the pack,” added Mekies.

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