Revealed: Charles Leclerc data shows how he outqualified a Red Bull by 0.011 seconds

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

Sergio Pérez achieved his best qualifying result since the Chinese F1 Grand Prix in April.

The Red Bull driver finished third in the rain at Spa-Francorchamps on a set of used intermediate tyres at this most critical moment of his contractual relationship with the team.

Data shows how Charles Leclerc toppled Red Bull’s Sergio Perez

Pérez finished qualifying behind Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, but due to the 10-place grid penalty for his team mate, he will start from the front row with only the Ferrari driver ahead of him.

The RB20 proved to be an extremely strong car in Belgium. Thanks to the car’s great aero efficiency at high speeds both on Friday in the dry and Saturday in the wet in qualifying where there were more doubts about Red Bull’s chances.

With Verstappen in a league of his own, the fight for the front row was between Perez, Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. McLaren were surprisingly a step behind.

The Ferrari driver made the difference, but Perez was 11 thousandths of a second off Leclerc. The SF24 was quicker on the straights, but Perez had the upper hand in the fast and slow corners as indicated by the best sectors and telemetry of both drivers.

Perez lost P2 in qualifying and the first starting position in the race at the Les Fagnes chicane just before the end of Sector 2.

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After dominating the whole of this part of the track, Perez entered the slow corners with less confidence and this cost him a few thousandths of valuable time, which was then further recovered by Leclerc on the long straight of Sector 3.

Leclerc had a lower downforce set-up, while Perez had a higher aero load to maximise the gains in Sector 2.

It is worth mentioning that Perez, unlike Leclerc and the rest of the ‘Big 4’ drivers, did not have a second set of intermediate tyres to improve his first lap time. The Mexican driver lapped the whole of Q3 on a used set of tyres and that also meant that he did not excel in the high speed and low speed corners over the Ferrari.

At a critical moment in his career, Perez has once again become Max Verstappen’s best ally. By finishing ahead of McLaren and having a great chance to fight for the lead in the early stages of the race, this will give the Dutchman and Red Bull some breathing space in their comeback.

As we saw in Friday’s long run and qualifying simulation data, it’s been a positive weekend overall for Checo.

Now, in the race, he will have a golden opportunity for Helmut Marko and Co not to think about replacing him with Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson during the summer break.

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