Regret and satisfaction
Despite a delay of just 55 thousandths from the best time set by George Russell, Charles Leclerc will not start on the front row tomorrow in the Zandvoort Sprint race. Ahead of the Ferrari driver, in a very close Sprint Qualifying, the reigning world champion Lando Norris also managed to get in. Despite the third place on the grid, however, the Monegasque had a chance to smile in the traditional end-of-day interviews. Unlike Lewis Hamilton, who described his lap in SQ3 as a “total disaster”, the feeling Leclerc had with the SF-26 on the twisty Dutch track seemed quite good.
Speaking to the microphones of Sky Sports F1, Leclerc expressed words that can give hope to his fans: “Clearly I would have preferred to start ahead, but in the end I am very happy with today because I think it was my best qualifying lap of this year – declared the #16 red – this means we are doing something good also to find the feeling that has not always been there this season. It is a good step in this direction, especially after the break it is nice to find this kind of feeling again. It was a good performance, unfortunately we still lacked something to be on pole, but at least we are fighting“.
Read more Norris narrowly misses pole: “I am happy, but also a bit disappointed”
“I felt quite comfortable with the car since this morning – Leclerc commented again – in terms of race pace it is a little more difficult because the conditions this morning were more complicated. We have to wait and see how the Sprint race will go tomorrow. For now, however, it seems like a positive start to the weekend“.
Read more Russell: “So I remember how to drive…”
