Leclerc Surprised By Fifth Consecutive Front Row Start Following P2 In Abu Dhabi
F1Saturday, 25 November 2023 at 22:00
Charles Leclerc achieved a fifth consecutive front-row start after the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying session.
As expected, the qualifying session at Yas Marina brought multiple surprises. One of the major ones was the elimination of Charles Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz in Q1.
Following Sainz's elimination and Leclerc's opening lap in the Q3 part of the Qualification, which was only enough for P9, not many people would bet on a front-row start for the Ferrari drivers in Abu Dhabi.
However, Leclerc changed the old set of soft tires for new ones in his last lap of the session and managed to squeeze everything out of his Ferrari to score P2, just one-tenth behind Max Verstappen in first place. The Monegasque said right after the qualification:
"Honestly, considering the weekend we've had until now, I did not expect it at all. The last lap, I knew I had to put everything together, and I did the last corner with a bit too much sliding. I think everybody has had that."
The 26-year-old admitted it did not look good for Scuderia Ferrari after the first two parts of Qualifying. But, similar to Mexico City Qualification, Leclerc managed to turn it all around in the last run.
"I'm really, really happy with the second place, I mean, Q1 and Q2, I was worrying about going through, and in the end, it’s a front row. So it's amazing."
The inconsistent performance of Ferrari cars creates many question marks in the eyes of their fans, but the Monegasque driver that his car is very sensitive to the tires.
While it is always the case that fresh tires will give drivers more grip than used ones, the Ferrari driver explained it is as if he could not bring the car alive without a new set of tires. He concluded:
"But then, when we put the new tires on, everything came alive, and it felt great. I did a great job. So [I'm] really happy to be on the front row, but it’s a big surprise."
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