Leclerc, renowned for his one-lap pace, was only eighth fastest as he lapped 0.589 seconds slower than polesitter Max Verstappen while outgoing Scuderia team-mate Carlos Sainz ranked fourth.
But the Monegasque was at a loss to explain the disappointing performance on his side of the garage, implying that it was just a freak episode that only happens “once in a season” as the fundamentals of the SF-24 car felt sound enough.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Leclerc explained: “It's one of those sessions maybe you get it once in a season. But it's definitely not a good feeling.
“Everything feels okay, the balance is not way off - we can always improve a little bit like every qualifying.
“If I rely on the feeling at the end of the lap, I'm like, ‘OK, this is quite a good lap’. And then you look at the [leader] board and you are a second off.
“So, when this happens, normally we look more at tyres and the way you bring the tyres to temperature. I've tried many different things today and it didn't work.”
Source: Autosport