While his teammate could not get past 9th position after suffering several setbacks beyond his control, Leclerc scored his second pole position of the season confessing that the sun barely let them see the track.
Just when the consequences of pouring and larger tire sizes for this year promised to be the biggest drawbacks affecting the visibility of the drivers on the track, came the Australian Grand Prix and weather conditions that caught several drivers by surprise.
The innumerable boats that the real protagonists suffer in their own flesh at the moment that their single-seaters suddenly lose downforce on the straights were left as a lesser evil compared to the incidence of a meteorological phenomenon: Sun.
zero vision
The ridiculous accident between Latifi and Stroll in Q1 caused a Red flag which, added to the sudden stop on the Williams track of an Alexander Albon who has been called to the stewards for not having enough fuel at the end of the qualifying session, delayed the start of the second qualifying round.
By then, radio messages riddled with beeps that hid profanity from almost the entire grid were produced on a chain. Why? Because the pilots needed a different helmet, “with the darkest visor ever», because «we could not see anything», as indicated by Charles Leclerc.
“Honestly, in my first lap of Q2 I risked a lot, because didn’t know where the track limits were», recognized the young Monegasque. The new stoppage due to Fernando Alonso’s accident against the wall at turn 11 in Q3 only aggravated this mishap.
“You just go on guessing a little bit, with the rhythm of the weekend you know more or less that you should turn ‘there’, but I really had no idea and it was very complicated. We changed and put a darker visor; on the first try of Q3 there were some clouds around so it was perfect,” #16 added.
Pilot by intuition
While some of those present at the circuit reported light drops of water coming from the sky, many others warned that the clouds were temporary, causing changing conditions that drove the pilots crazy.
«In the last attempt of Q3, under braking for the first corner, visibility was still very poorBut I don’t think we can do anything. Even the darkest visor is not enough, and it would be too dark for the rest of the track where there were clouds,” Leclerc continued.
Loading tweet…
1512696541403770884
“We have to find a balance, but in the end it is the same for everyone. Without a doubt, it was extremely complicated. In the last sector, on the last lap of Q3, I lost a bit, but only because it was very hard to see where i was“, hill.
For its part, Sergio Perez endorsed the words of poleman in the third GP of the year. “What affected us the most was the sun. It was going down a lot, it was getting dark, so we were playing around with the scopes quite a bit. On my first run in Q3 it was completely dark, no sun, so I went back, but then it was very sunny. I was wrong with the viewfinder», commented the Mexican.
Source: The Race