Leclerc believes Ferrari can BEAT Verstappen after claiming shock Monza pole
Leclerc believes Ferrari can BEAT Verstappen after claiming shock Monza pole
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is holding onto a strong belief that his team can triumph over Red Bull's Max Verstappen at the Italian Grand Prix, despite the predictive data suggesting otherwise.
The Ferraris are split by the Dutch world championship leader after Carlos Sainz secured pole position with an impressive time of 1:20.294. Max Verstappen was hot on his heels with a time of 1:20.307, while Leclerc clinched the third spot on the grid with a time of 1:20.361.
Despite Ferrari's metrics pointing towards yet another Verstappen win, Leclerc has a gut feeling that they will stop the two-time world champion from breaking the record of most consecutive Grand Prix wins.
"I want to believe we can beat Max tomorrow," he told Sky Italia.
"I have something inside me that makes me think we can do it even if the data say otherwise."
READ MORE: F1 Qualifying Results: Italian Grand Prix 2023 times as Ferrari take FAMOUS pole
Leclerc 'ended up alone'
Leclerc also opened up on his qualifying strategy, admitting that he had "priority" over Sainz this weekend.
"I left the pit lane first, not to give the slipstream to anyone," he said.
"I had the 'priority' this weekend, so I chose to go first. But I still wanted a few cars in front, but no one was there, so I ended up alone."
Despite missing out on pole position, Leclerc expressed his satisfaction with his own performance and praised his Spanish team-mate.
"I'm still happy with what I did today," he said.
"I'm happy for Carlos and what he achieved with the team today, and he deserves it. Hopefully, we can do great things tomorrow."
The Italian Grand Prix promises an exciting race day, with Ferrari boasting a phenomenal straight-line pace, 'the temple of speed' looks to be the perfect stage for the Prancing Horse to become the first and only team to beat Red Bull this season.
READ MORE: Alonso left unsurprised by Ferrari pole after hinting underachievement
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Australia 2023
- Grand Prix of China 2023
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2023
- Miami Grand Prix 2023
- Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
- AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
- Grand Prix du Canada 2023
- Grand Prix of Austria 2023
- Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Italy 2023
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
- Grand Prix of Japan 2023
- Qatar Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of the United States 2023
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
- Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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