Charles Leclerc has expressed his surprise at the speed of the McLarens during Friday’s practice in São Paulo. With a 29-point deficit to Lando Norris, every point in the drivers’ championship is crucial for the Monégasque, but he fears that the Ferraris may finish behind their British rivals over the Brazilian weekend.
McLaren performed well during the sprint qualifying session in Brazil. The British team immediately outpaced close competitors Red Bull and Ferrari. As a result, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will both start from the front row in the shortened race on Saturday. Leclerc finished, with a two-tenths deficit to polesitter Piastri, as the best of the rest in third place. The Monégasque will start alongside Max Verstappen in fourth place for the sprint race, and he is content with his result.
“I’m happy because we maximized today’s result, I don’t think there was anything to do better today,” Leclerc told Formula1.com. “The McLarens are so fast, so we’re a bit behind them this weekend. It’s important to score good points anyway.”
‘That’s the plan’
Meanwhile, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz qualified in fifth place, partly due to his team’s struggles with the falling track temperature. “It was very difficult to get the tires in the window,” the Spaniard explained. “We had a good improvement in SQ2 with the mediums. We only did one lap on those tires and that will come in handy for the rest of the weekend.”
Therefore, Sainz has not given up hope for a better qualifying result for the main race. “I remember that we were weak on the softs on Friday in Austin (at the last sprint weekend), and then we managed to find some extra time for qualifying, so yes, that’s the plan.
