After a busy qualifying session, the hierarchies for tomorrow's grand prix are established. Charles Leclerc will start from the 16th pitch, behind rival in the race for the title Max Verstappen.
Comeback with obstacles?
The Monegasque certainly didn't compete in the qualification he would have liked. Here where he conquered the first victory, he found himself, because of penalty for replacement of the power unit, to support Carlos Sainz, pole man also thanks to the slipstream of number 16. An error in the pits affected Charles' qualification, who entered the track with a set of soft new instead of used, an oversight that could, even if only slightly, condition a comeback that is not exactly obvious in itself. Leclerc he will have Verstappen in front of him, but given the performance of the RB18 on the race pace in free practice, it is understandable that the number one in the Red Bull it will hardly be a cap for the Ferrari driver.
Realistic Leclerc: "they are really fast"
Leclerc is clearly motivated, but he sees a significant pitfall in the performance of the RB18s and Verstappen: Honestly, in terms of personal performance, we haven't prepared this qualification in the best way, we focused on the race. I like the car a lot more for the race than for qualifying. Said this the gap between Max and us is huge and it has been since the beginning of the weekend. He is very strange. They found something that gave them a lot of pace this weekend. Let's see tomorrow, but it looks like it will be very difficult. Gap due to low temperatures? I think there have also been examples to the contrary, where we were strong in these conditions. Such a large gap has never occurred since the beginning of the year. WIN? last time we saw that anything is possible. I'll give everything, the race pace isn't bad. We need to make a good comeback in the first stint and then we'll see what's feasible tomorrow. Possible mission? Today's qualifying makes me doubt. They are really fast. We are talking about 7 tenths, not 2-3. Will be difficult".
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