Charles Leclerc has explained the confusion around a yellow flag during Belgian Grand Prix qualifying involving Red Bull's Isack Hadjar.
The Ferrari driver qualified fifth on the road at Spa and will be promoted to fourth after Lando Norris's 10-place grid penalty, and was 0.024s slower than George Russell, who was fourth on the road in the Mercedes.
As he approached and navigated the Bus Stop chicane on his final lap, Leclerc passed by a yellow flag waving by the entry to the pit lane.
The single-waved yellow was actually a warning for Hadjar, who was already in the pit-lane entry, with there being no incident on the track.
However, as Leclerc passed, he felt the location of the flag and the marshal was "too visible" and that the brief lift potentially cost him beating Russell.
"I'm a bit disappointed with that last lap because there was a yellow flag that was supposed to be for the pit entry," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.
"It was too visible in my opinion on being on track. It was very much in the middle, and I mean that probably cost me one position.
"I wouldn't have done a crazy better lap time, and half a second was still there, but one position would have been possible."
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