Charles Leclerc ‘did not expect’ pole but claims Max Verstappen still favourite for F1 Mexico City GP win

Charles Leclerc says leading a Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying at the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix came as a “big surprise” to him. 
Charles Leclerc (MON) Ferrari SF-23 celebrates his pole position in qualifying parc ferme. Formula 1 World Championship,
Charles Leclerc (MON) Ferrari SF-23 celebrates his pole position in qualifying parc ferme. …

The Monegasque made it two pole positions in as many weekends at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez as he edged out Ferrari teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Carlos Sainz by 0.067s, while Red Bull’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen was 0.097s adrift in third. 

But Leclerc, who joked people would not believe him after making it two straight poles, wa⭕s left shocked after Ferrari’s unexpected pace seemi🥀ngly came out of nowhere. 

𒅌“I did not🎃 expect to be on pole today,” Leclerc said. 

“We thought ꦏwe were lacking quite a bit after FP3. But for some reason once we put everything together it went well and on the new tyres we gained a lot. 

"I'm already focusing on tomorrow's 🧸race because we have had many pole positions but we need to convert it into pole position and it's going to be very difficult.

"We will just focus 𝕴on ourselves. We had a pretty good pace all weekend. I'm not sure if it's enough to challenge for the win but we will try everyth🐎ing in our hands to get it.”

Charles Leclerc (MON) Ferrari SF-23. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 20, Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City, Mexico,
Charles Leclerc (MON) Ferrari SF-23. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 20, Mexican Grand Prix,…

Ferrari’s rece🎉nt strong starts leave Leclerc confident about his chances of maintaining the lead on the long run down to Turn 1. 

“It’s a very d🧸ifficult race here,” he explained. “Everything can happen, especially with the cooling, where🅺 whichever car behind can do a bit more management. 

"So it can play a bit in our favour bu𒀰t for that we need to be first and starting first here i⛦s always tricky to keep that position until the first corner. 

“But we’ve had pretty good starts ⛄this year, so I’m confident I can keep that first place into Turn 1, and then we will try and do our best race.” 

However, Leclerc pinpointed Verstappen as beꩲing the biggest🐲 threat to his hopes of claiming a first win of the season. 

“♒I mean, this year, clearly Max has been extremely strong on the race-pace. So at the moment it’s Max [who is the favourite],” Leclerc added.&ꦗnbsp;

“We still have a lot of work✱ to do as a team to match them with our race pace.” 

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