Having looked good in Friday’s practice sessions, Leclerc was less happy in Saturday’s FP3 session and in qualifying he struggled with his front tyres.
Having been fourth in Q1 and second in Q2, he tried a front wing change for his final run in Q3 in an attempt to find more performance.
However, it didn’t pay off and having abandoned the run he had to settle for fifth.
"To be honest, I think it's starting from much earlier in the weekend,” he said when asked by Autosport about his Q3 struggles.
“In FP3 already, I felt like it was going away a little bit from me, but I was confident that it will come back the feeling in qualifying, as is normally the case.
“Whenever we have a strange feeling in FP3, then you put the new tyres in quali, low fuel, and everything comes alive again.
“Today wasn't the case. I struggled quite a lot with the front tyres, until the last run in Q3 where I went very aggressive with the front wing to try something, and I went the other way.
Source: Autosport