Ferrari breaks Red Bull’s hegemony in qualifying and hits pole start number 250 in its history. This fact is further enhanced by the fact that pole was obtained at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc signed an unmatched 1’10″270, confirming the good things done in yesterday and today’s free practice. Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, appeared before the microphones of Sky Sport F1 satisfied, but aware that the difficulties were certainly not put aside with the end of the qualifications.
In Monte-Carlo the pole is almost worth gold, but to bring home the success the Maranello team will have to do everything perfectly tomorrow too. Meanwhile, Leclerc and the Scuderia managed today’s exciting moments well, when a piece of the billboard raised fears that Friday’s star performer could find himself embroiled in an unexpected and potentially damaging situation for the final result.
“Leclerc is having a very good weekend so far, then in Q1 there was that piece of poster that slipped into the car but he remained calm. That situation was a bit on the limit, because Charles was forced to lose 2 or 3 laps of the track in that situation, he was very good at managing the subsequent phases and everything went well.”
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“Honestly, Leclerc has been flying since the beginning of the weekend. He was very consistent, with a very fast pace right from the start. It’s true that Q1 didn’t start in the best way for us. After just one fast lap we ‘It was that piece of plastic in the car and we had to make a pit stop to remove it.’
“We were afraid because we thought he might be a bit nervous after what happened in Q1. This could have affected qualifying, but he kept calm and did a really good job.”
Ferrari was forced to replace Leclerc’s engine between the final free practice session and qualifying due to an anomaly, an alarm on a sensor that measures oil temperature. “We changed Leclerc’s engine to be safe. We have no apprehensions about it ahead of tomorrow.”
If Leclerc made Ferrari fans dream, it is right to also underline the decisive step forward made by Carlos Sainz in Q3. The Madrilenian, after suffering in yesterday’s free practice due to a wrong direction in his set-up, returned to flying, setting the third fastest time just when it mattered most.
“Carlos was also very strong in qualifying, he did an excellent job and I swear a great performance at the end and it’s nice to have both cars in front from a strategic perspective. We know that it is exceptionally important to get pole in Monaco, but that doesn’t mean that starting on pole automatically wins the race so we have to do everything properly”, concluded Vasseur.
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