Charles Leclerc explains major Ferrari fear before stunning McLaren upset

Charles Leclerc has described how he feared not even making the "top five" of the Hungarian Grand Prix grid before landing a stunning pole. 

The Ferrari driver sprang a major surprise in Budapest to defeat Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to pole despite the McLaren pair dominating the field throughout practice. 

Leclerc snatched pole by just 0.026s from Piastri, landing Ferrari's first pole of the season in a grand prix and moving clear of Mika Hakkinen into 11th on the all-time poles list with his 27th P1 start.

However, through the qualifying segments, Leclerc was on the cusp of being eliminated, and suffering the same fate as team-mate Lewis Hamilton, in 12th. 

Reflecting on his lap, the Monegasque explained how he felt a strong result was not possible early in the session before a sudden change in weather conditions hampered McLaren, allowing him to nip ahead.

"It was a day when I didn't understand anything anymore in motorsport!" Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365. 

"I mean, honestly, qualifying felt horrible. From the first lap to maybe the penultimate lap, everything felt out of place. It really felt like we had taken a step backwards from FP3. 

"In terms of competitiveness, Q1, I was on the limit, barely made it to Q2. Q2 I was on the limit, I mean, I did quite a big mistake in Turn 4, but still, it wasn't easy to get to Q3. 

"Then Q3, the conditions I think changed for everybody. I basically just did a clean lap, which I think was a really good lap because those conditions were very difficult to get everything right. 

"I did, and I was really happy about the lap, and it's probably the biggest, the most surprising pole position I've ever done. 

"I think after FP3 it wouldn't have been so surprising, but after Q1 and Q2, I really thought we would struggle to get into the top five even."