Charles Leclerc was stunned to claim his second pole position of the season in a rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix qualifying session.
The Ferrari driver set the second-quickest time in Saturday’s wet qualifying session, six tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen. However, due to Verstappen’s ten-place grid penalty for taking a fifth internal combustion engine for the season, Leclerc will start from pole position on Sunday, with Sergio Perez alongside him on the front row.
Leclerc was fourth-quickest in practice yesterday and said his qualifying result was well above what Ferrari thought they could do. “It’s good, I definitely did not expect that this weekend,” Leclerc said after qualifying.
“Obviously with the tricky conditions, we could do something above our expectations. So it’s a good day for the team. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen whenever the rain has gone.”
Leclerc believes the wet conditions offered an opportunity to be in contention at the front which they would never have had in normal, dry conditions.
“I think that without this rain, probably P5 was the position we were fighting for – with the Mercedes especially,” he admitted. “Obviously the rain helped us a little bit but I’m not going to complain.
“I’m really happy. I’m very happy with the lap in Q3, and it’s good to be back on the front part of the grid, but now we’ve got to finalise that tomorrow.”
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Leclerc will lead the field off the starting grid for the second consecutive Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Last year, Perez also started alongside him and passed the Ferrari on the opening lap. Leclerc expects it may be difficult to keep the Red Bull behind him at the start again this year.
“It’s not the easiest first place to keep on the first lap here, but honestly I will see,” he said.
“Every start is different and then once I’ll be in the car tomorrow through Eau Rouge, I’ll decide what’s the best thing I can do. But obviously I will try to keep that first place.”
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2024 Belgian Grand Prix
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