Leclerc: The pole position would be a huge surprise

Ferrari had two mixed testing sessions, a week after witnessing Charles Leclerc secure pole position in Austin. This week, Leclerc finished the first testing session in 1:20.297, earning the fifth-best time, and then recorded 1:18.952 during FP2, placing him in third position. However, Carlos Sainz’s testing was more challenging, finishing seventh in FP1 and eleventh in FP2, with respective times of 1:20.479 and 1:19.257.

Faced with these contrasting results, Charles Leclerc appeared pessimistic about the possibility of securing the pole position. “It would be a huge surprise if we make the pole position. But never say never,” said the driver sporting number 16. “It’s a tricky track. It’s very difficult to put a lap together, but I feel like this weekend we are a bit too far off. We still have a lot of work to do because McLaren seems to be extremely strong. Obviously, Red Bull and Max seem to be very, very strong. Mercedes is a bit more difficult to assess at the moment. By focusing on ourselves, we know which areas we need to work on and we hope that will help us take a step forward.”

Sainz rather disappointed

Carlos Sainz, on his side, expressed his disappointment regarding his performances. “It was a delicate day for us,” he said. “Honestly, we were expecting to be a bit more competitive, but for one reason or another, we haven’t managed to find the right balance. Especially on one lap, we seem to encounter rear grip issues, which is our main focus for qualifying. The soft tire is quite soft, it overheats quickly and can be problematic. We will now concentrate on improving our performance on one lap. The field is really tight, so I think qualifying (Q1, Q2, and Q3) will be a tough battle.”

Ferrari has a day to make new adjustments before the FP3 and then the qualifying session.