Charles Leclerc has expressed his surprise after beating Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz and reigning world champion Max Verstappen to pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Just over a tenth of a second separated the top three drivers heading into their final flying runs during Q3 with nobody improving enough to change the qualifying order come the chequered flag.
Ferrari never looked like a threat to pole position during the first two parts of qualifying and they weren’t talked about as contenders during the three practice sessions, but the Scuderia pulled it out when it mattered on Saturday afternoon.
Leclerc was delighted over the team radio after Q3, telling his team: “Good job guys. That was a surprise! I feel like every pole we do it’s a surprise. A good surprise. Let’s do it tomorrow.”
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The Monegasque driver elaborated on his surprise after the session, stating: “Two weekends in a row where we did not expect that. I did not expect to be on pole today.
“We thought we were lacking quite a bit after FP3. But for some reason, once we put everything together it went well and on the new tyres, we gained a lot.
“I’m already focusing on tomorrow’s race because we have had many pole positions but we need to convert it into pole position and it’s going to be very difficult.
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“We will just focus on ourselves. We had a pretty good pace all weekend. I’m not sure if it’s enough to challenge for the win but we will try everything in our hands to get it.”
Leclerc will be hoping that his pole position defence goes better than it did in Austin last weekend. The 26-year-old topped the timing screens in qualifying last Saturday but had been demoted to second by turn two after losing the lead to Lando Norris.
Ferrari’s poster boy was placed on the suboptimal alternate strategy and eventually laboured to a P6 finish before the No.16 car was disqualified when a post-race investigation revealed a technical breach.
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