Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc admitted he did not expect the Maranello team to lead the way at the Baku City Circuit as they did in Monaco two weeks ago.
Scuderia Ferrari’s form around the very slow Monaco circuit was widely expected given their slow-corner performance. While Baku also features many slow turns, its long straights were expected to favour Ferrari’s rivals.
But the SF-21s were quick on Friday and backed that up in qualifying. Charles Leclerc’s surprise pole position may have owed something to the fact everyone had to abandon their final runs due to crashes (again), but he had genuine pace and felt he could have improved on his second effort even without a tow.
“The complete explanation I don’t have it,” he admitted after qualifying, “but for sure it’s the result of the guys back at the factory, also the guys here at the track who have been working extremely hard since the beginning of 2020 when we obviously started the season and it was very difficult.
“We kept working and the car just got better and better. It’s small steps all the time but small steps in the right direction and this is not always a given so this makes us competitive.”
Charles Leclerc said Ferrari “did not expect to be as competitive as we were this weekend until now, so this is a bit of a surprise, but we’ve been also working very, very hard for that.” – the Monegasque driver concluded.
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