Charles Leclerc Amankan Posisi Start Keempat GP Belgia 2026

Pembalap Scuderia Ferrari Charles Leclerc dipastikan mengamankan posisi start keempat untuk balapan Formula 1 Grand Prix Belgia di Sirkuit Spa-Francorchamps pada Minggu, 19 Juli 2026. Hasil tersebut diperoleh setelah ia sempat terhambat oleh kesalahpahaman terkait kibaran bendera kuning pada sesi kualifikasi.

Leclerc sejatinya menyelesaikan sesi kualifikasi pada urutan kelima di belakang Kimi Antonelli, namun posisinya naik satu baris menyusul penalti mundur 10 posisi yang dijatuhkan kepada pembalap McLaren Lando Norris. Waktu krusial sang pembalap asal Monako terbuang di tikungan terakhir karena ia salah mengartikan bendera kuning dari marshal, yang sebenarnya dikibarkan untuk mengamankan mobil Isack Hadjar di jalur pit, sebagai insiden di dalam lintasan.

Sebelum terjadinya insiden bendera kuning tersebut, tim Ferrari dilaporkan berhasil mengatasi kendala kecepatan di lintasan lurus yang sempat membuat Leclerc kehilangan waktu hingga setengah detik sepanjang 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.

Defisit kecepatan di trek lurus ini diakui menjadi tantangan besar karena karakteristik sirkuit Spa-Francorchamps yang lebih menguntungkan mobil dengan tenaga murni yang besar.

"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.

Leclerc menilai penempatan posisi bendera kuning di area masuk pit tersebut kurang ideal karena 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.

Kehilangan momentum pada putaran terakhir tersebut sangat disayangkan oleh Leclerc karena ia merasa memiliki potensi untuk mengamankan 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.

Kepada Sky F1, ia juga menegaskan bahwa jarak setengah detik dari peraih pole position terjadi karena keunggulan performa paket mobil 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.

Ferrari disebutnya masih harus bekerja keras karena paket mobil mereka saat ini masih kesulitan ketika tampil di sirkuit-sirkuit yang bertipe membatasi tenaga kendaraan.

"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.

Kendati demikian, Leclerc melihat data dari pekan balapan di Spa kali ini memberikan peta persaingan yang jauh lebih realistis bagi timnya dibandingkan dengan seri-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.

Guna menghadapi balapan utama, Leclerc berharap bisa memanfaatkan efek slipstream atau hisapan angin di Kemmel Straight untuk membantu intensitas menyalip sejak awal laga.

"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.

Pihak internal Ferrari sendiri mengonfirmasi bahwa kendala pada mobil Leclerc sebelum kualifikasi bersumber dari masalah unit daya, sehingga komponen tersebut langsung diganti demi performa maksimal.

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

Efek bantuan hambatan udara dari mobil lain di depan menjadi harapan utama Leclerc untuk menutupi kekurangan kecepatan tertinggi mobil SF-26 miliknya.

"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.

Sementara itu, rekan setimnya Lewis Hamilton dipastikan akan memulai balapan tepat di belakang Leclerc, yaitu di posisi kelima, setelah para mekanik Ferrari berhasil membangun ulang mobilnya 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 bahwa kendali serta keseimbangan jet darat miliknya tidak lagi terasa sama persis setelah mengalami insiden benturan keras 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 harus mengawali perlombaan dari baris ketiga, pembalap berkebangsaan Inggris tersebut tetap memasang target tinggi untuk menembus posisi 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.