After a challenging start to the weekend, Ferrari suddenly revived during the qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc surprised with a strong third time behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, and speaks of a session where everything finally fell into place.
“Yes, that was quite a surprise,” Leclerc laughs afterwards. “Especially since it has been a difficult weekend for us from the start. We tried to get everything in order for the qualifying and we succeeded. But there are still certain things we need to understand about this car. We are going all over the place in terms of performance, without really fundamentally adjusting the car.”
According to the Monegasque, the sprint race earlier in the day played a key role. “We learned a lot from that and applied it in this qualifying. This seems to work, so I hope we can catch up a bit from now on.”
For the race, which he won last year in Austin, Leclerc remains realistic. “Our car is usually a bit stronger in the race than in qualifying, but I don’t expect we can suddenly fight with Max and the McLaren. But who knows, we might have as good a start as last year and be able to stay at the front.”
