Charles Leclerc Rebut Posisi Start Keempat Usai Insiden Bendera Kuning

Pembalap Ferrari Charles Leclerc dipastikan akan memulai balapan Formula 1 Grand Prix Belgia dari posisi start keempat pada Minggu, 19 Juli 2026, setelah terhambat oleh kesalahpahaman bendera kuning di sesi kualifikasi Sirkuit Spa-Francorchamps.

Leclerc sebenarnya mengakhiri kualifikasi di urutan kelima di belakang Kimi Antonelli, namun ia naik satu baris menyusul penalti mundur 10 posisi yang diterima oleh pembalap McLaren Lando Norris. Kendala hilangnya waktu krusial terjadi di tikungan terakhir akibat kibaran bendera kuning dari marshal yang mengamankan mobil Isack Hadjar di jalur pit, yang disalahartikan Leclerc sebagai insiden di dalam lintasan.

Sebelum insiden tersebut, Ferrari berhasil mengatasi kendala kecepatan di lintasan lurus yang sempat membuat Leclerc kehilangan waktu hingga setengah detik selama sesi latihan bebas.

"It is the way it is, I lifted off and I probably lost a bit of lap time there," kata Charles Leclerc, pembalap Ferrari sebagaimana dilansir dari f1i.com.

Leclerc mengakui bahwa karakteristik sirkuit Spa membuat jet darat Ferrari kalah bersaing dalam hal tenaga murni dibandingkan Mercedes dan Red Bull, meskipun mobilnya memiliki cengkeraman yang kuat di tikungan.

"It's going to be tricky. I think our power unit, we know what we have a slight disadvantage on a track like this and we'll have to try and maximize everything and hopefully a podium is possible," tutur Charles Leclerc.

Pembalap asal Monako tersebut menyayangkan penempatan bendera kuning di area masuk pit yang menurutnya terlalu terlihat jelas dari lintasan balap utama.

"The weekend has been very tough for other reasons than previously. But we've had unfortunately something, that we can explain now, but that was difficult to understand where I was losing half a second, four tenths in the straights all the time. But then hopefully for Qualifying, we kind of saw something, changed it, and was much more in line with what we expected. But the feeling wasn't too bad from FP1," jelas Charles Leclerc kepada media termasuk GPblog.

Leclerc menguraikan kekecewaannya karena kehilangan momentum di putaran terakhir yang berpotensi membuatnya merebut posisi start ketiga.

"I mean, a bit of a shame for that last lap and for that misunderstanding on the yellow flag in the last corner, but yeah, it's the way it is," tambah Charles Leclerc.

Ia menegaskan kepada Sky F1 bahwa jarak setengah detik dari peraih pole position memang mutlak karena keunggulan performa paket Mercedes saat ini.

"I'm a bit disappointed for that last lap because there was a yellow flag that was supposed to be for the pit entry but that was too visible in my opinion for being on track. It was very much in the middle. That probably cost me one position, I wouldn't have done a crazy better lap time and half a second was still there [to Antonelli on pole] but one position [more] would have been possible," sebut Charles Leclerc.

Kekurangan dalam hal kecepatan di trek lurus ini diakui Leclerc menjadi kelemahan utama Ferrari di sirkuit bertipe power-limited.

"It's just raw power. Raw power they are just on the better side of things. We are pretty strong in the grip limited [tracks] but struggling in the power limited.

However, today it was true they were very strong in the corners as well. They just have a very strong package at the moment and for us, at the moment, we just have to focus on those tracks to maximise what we have," ungkap Charles Leclerc.

Ia menganggap akhir pekan di Spa kali ini memberikan peta persaingan yang lebih realistis bagi tim asal Italia tersebut ketimbang seri sebelumnya.

"Unfortunately that’s the way it is. I think it’s a lot more in line with what we expected in Silverstone and here. Silverstone was more of an outstanding weekend and here it’s not. Here it’s more the way we expected it," ujar Charles Leclerc kepada Sky.

Kendati demikian, Leclerc berharap efek hisapan angin atau slipstream di Kemmel Straight bisa membantunya menyalip saat balapan dimulai.

"There was a yellow flag that was supposed to be for the pit entry, but that was too visible, in my opinion, being on track. That probably cost me one position. I wouldn't have done a crazy better lap time, half a second still there, but one position would have been possible," tutur Charles Leclerc seperti dikutip dari PlanetF1.com.

Ferrari memastikan masalah pada mobil Leclerc sebelum kualifikasi bersumber dari unit daya dan komponen tersebut langsung diganti demi performa maksimal.

"It was a power unit thing that we saw and changed," kata Charles Leclerc.

Ia pun tetap menaruh harapan tinggi pada efek tow di Spa demi menutupi defisit kecepatan mobilnya.

"It’s very powerful on this track, and I just hope we get a good tow because we are lacking a little bit of straight line speed," pungkas Charles Leclerc.

Di sisi lain, rekan setimnya Lewis Hamilton akan memulai balapan dari posisi kelima tepat di belakang Leclerc setelah para mekanik Ferrari berhasil membangun ulang mobil SF-26 miliknya yang hancur akibat kecelakaan fatal pada sesi latihan ketiga (FP3).

"Massively grateful to the team. The guys were stretched to make sure they got the car ready," ucap Lewis Hamilton, pembalap Ferrari.

Hamilton mengakui kendali dan keseimbangan mobilnya tidak lagi sama persis setelah insiden kecelakaan tersebut.

"The car was feeling the best it felt all weekend in FP3, then unfortunately I had to go and damage it. It wasn’t the same car when I got back out; unfortunately not identical in terms of balance. But I got the best I could out of what I had," aku Lewis Hamilton.

Meski mengawali akhir pekan dari baris ketiga, pembalap asal Inggris tersebut tetap membidik podium pada balapan utama hari Minggu.

"Still optimistic for tomorrow. I think there’s a chance, there’s all sorts of chances tomorrow to try and see if we can get on the podium. That’d be awesome," tutup Lewis Hamilton.