Charles Leclerc was pleasantly surprised by his Q3 performance ahead of tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he sets his sights on clinching P2 in the Constructors’ Championship for Ferrari tomorrow.
Despite being unable to threaten the top spots in Q1 and Q2 this afternoon, and even struggling to impress on his opening Q3 lap on used tyres, Charles Leclerc was able to claim P2 on the grid for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the dying moments of the session.
“Q1 and Q2 I was on the limit of making it through.”
With the Ferrari man eventually finishing just over a tenth behind polesitter Max Verstappen, Leclerc admits he was surprised by the performance of his SF-23 during his final qualifying lap, admitting the team had been struggling for pace all weekend.
“I said that last weekend!” Leclerc joked when asked if his Yas Marina lap was one of his best of the season. “Last week felt like a really really good lap, this quali felt like a really really good lap as well. It was a bit of a surprise this one, because Q1 and Q2 I was on the limit of making it through.
“Well not on the limit but it was quite tight and I was actually worried to go through Q1 and Q2. Then in Q3 I managed to put the lap together and everything felt good. I’m really happy with that lap because I definitely did not expect to get on the front row this weekend considering how much we struggled.
“FP2 was really good.” He said reflecting on the weekend so far. “Then FP1 and FP3, I didn’t do FP1 but as a team I think we struggled massively. It’s a good surprise.”
“Second in the Constructors’ would be nice.”
Leclerc was then asked if he believes he will have the pace to challenge Max Verstappen ahead during tomorrow’s Grand Prix. Ever the team player, Leclerc stated his main goal for tomorrow is to help Ferrari secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Mercedes.
“I don’t know,” he stated simply when asked about challenging Verstappen. “The only thing that matters to me is that we challenge the Mercedes’ and we take second place in the constructors. In the drivers, honestly finishing fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh I don’t care, but the second in the constructors’ would be nice.
“We just need to beat the Mercedes’, but of course if there is an opportunity to beat Max [Verstappen] tomorrow I will take it. However, on a track like this, with hot conditions like this, I expect us to struggle a bit more than in Las Vegas in race pace.
“Let’s see. We’ve been good with the tyre management in Las Vegas in very different conditions. In FP3 I had quite a good feeling during the race simulations. So I hope we can produce that tomorrow.”
