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Charles Leclerc did not need to put himself under intense pressure in qualifying at Monza in order to secure the most advantageous starting position on the grid and, with it, the best possible chance of victory heading into the Italian Grand Prix.
With the majority of his rivals already doomed to drop significantly further back from wherever they ended up on Saturday, this was certainly the least challenging of the eight pole positions that the Ferrari driver had secured in 2022. However, Leclerc’s roar of delight at beating Max Verstappen to being fastest in qualifying demonstrated just how important securing that moral victory over their rivals was to the Scuderia.
The titles may be all but decided in Red Bull’s favour, but that will only make a Ferrari win at Monza all the more imperative – not just for the Tifosi watching expectantly from the grandstands, but to avoid another blow to the morale of the team and its drivers. It was little surprise Leclerc was so pleased to earn pole on merit.
“We still need to finalise this tomorrow, otherwise it’s pointless to do the pole on Saturday,” the pole winner said. “But it is a very good surprise today, considering where we come from, especially in Spa.
“We were not expecting to fight for pole here. So it’s a very good surprise at home. There’s a special motivation for this weekend and it’s great that we managed to do a good job today.”
With Verstappen’s relatively minor five-place grid penalty, Leclerc has effectively secured a 48-metre head start in what will surely be a straight fight between the two over 53 laps of Monza. Despite Verstappen being on unstoppable form in recent rounds, Leclerc – decked out in commemorative Modena yellow for the 75th anniversary of Ferrari – is confident he can give his team even more reasons to celebrate at the end of the weekend.
“I think the race pace is strong, the feeling was really, really good,” he said. “So, whatever happens in the first lap, I think we still have the pace to win this race, so we’ll try to put everything together, no mistakes during the race and I think we can have a good Sunday.”
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