Charles Leclerc delivered a surprise during the qualifying round at Spa-Francorchamps by outpacing Max Verstappen at the last moment. The Monegasque will start from the second row in the main race on Sunday, alongside Verstappen. Does the Ferrari driver expect to stay ahead of the Dutchman in Belgium on Sunday? ‘I couldn’t keep up with him during the sprint,’ Leclerc admits with some doubt.
“I didn’t really see that coming,” a surprised Charles Leclerc honestly admits after the session. The Ferrari driver clocked a slightly faster time than Max Verstappen, who finished fourth, at Spa-Francorchamps. “I’m really happy with today. It’s strange to say that, of course, because it’s only a third place. But I didn’t expect it. We thought we would be further back, we knew that we could get more out of the car with the upgrades, but yesterday we were still struggling with the SF-25. So I’m very happy with my fast lap today.”
Ferrari brought special upgrades for the SF-25 to the circuit in the Ardennes, but these did not work optimally right away. For instance, Lewis Hamilton spun out during the sprint qualifying due to a new part on his car. “It took some time to optimize the upgrades,” Leclerc continues. “But we didn’t make any major changes, it was a matter of bringing everything together. It’s good to have driven a qualifying round where you could get everything out of it.”
Verstappen
The Monegasque will start the race alongside Max Verstappen, but during the sprint race, he saw the Dutchman disappear on the horizon. Does Leclerc expect to keep Verstappen behind him in the main race? “I don’t know. His pace looked very fast this morning (during the sprint race). I couldn’t keep up with him then. But maybe with the small changes we’ve made, hopefully, we’ll have a slight advantage in the main race.”
