World championship leader Charles Leclerc will start the Spanish Grand Prix from first place on Sunday at the Circuit de Catalunya and is confident his Maranello team-mate Carlos Sainz will be able to help him beat Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen as Ferrari attempt to stay in control of the title race after Red Bull scored two consecutive victories, in Italy and Miami.
The Monegasque driver had a perfect weekend until the start of Q3 in Barcelona, but proved nerveless calm on Saturday when he recovered from a spin on his first run in the third part of qualifying and was still able to complete a stunning final fast lap and score his second consecutive pole position. Max Verstappen, who had gone quickest on his first run, had to back out of his final fast run and was forced to pull into the pits when he lost power due to a Drag Reduction System (DRS) issue. The Red Bull driver finished the qualifying session in second place, ahead of Scuderia Ferrari driver and local hero Carlos Sainz who was third in the other F1-75 car.
“I hope Carlos can help,” said Charles Leclerc in a post-qualifying interview at the Circuit de Catalunya – “I hope we can do a one-two together with Carlos – it would be so great for the team and we will give it our all.” – he added.
Charles Leclerc secured his first pole in Spain, his fourth of the 2022 Formula One championship and the 13th of his career after topping the times in a clean sweep of all three practice sessions. The Monegasque driver now goes into Sunday’s race with the momentum, but at the same time is aware that Red Bull showed a much better race pace in the simulations from Friday practice: “I only had that one lap, but it went extremely well. I feel very good! It was a very, very difficult session, especially in Q3, when I made a mistake on the first run.” – the Monegasque driver continued.
Max Verstappen will started the Spanish Grand Prix in second place ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and a resurgent George Russell for Mercedes. Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull starts from fifth place, ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes, who have shown significant improvement this weekend.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Puma Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
Charles Leclerc concluded: “We are in a strong position to start the race, but we have been struggling with tyres in the last few races compared to Red Bull. Max is just behind and if we don’t manage these tyres well, we will lose that win so we need to get on top of it and do a good job tomorrow with tyre management.”
Leave a Reply