Verstappen, who shares the F1 record with the late
Leclerc secured his third pole in four years at
“This weekend has been incredible," Leclerc said. "Qualifying in
He finished .154 seconds ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and .248 clear of Ferrari teammate
“Really, really happy about the lap,” Leclerc said. “I know more often than not that qualifying is not everything in the race.”
Leclerc took pole in 2021, but could not start due to a gearbox problem. He led from pole in 2022 until Ferrari made an incorrect call to change his tires.
“The team has got a lot stronger since then,” said Leclerc, who also led the second and third practice sessions.
He is well set to end his run of nearly two years without a win, dating to
“I just need a good launch (from the start),” said Leclerc, who has won five F1 races in his career.
McLaren is in good form, with Norris winning the Miami GP three weeks ago and almost catching Verstappen at the end of last weekend's Emilia Romagna GP.
“The pace was good,” Piastri said. “We came into this weekend pretty confident that we could be in the fight for the pole and the win again.”
Sainz, however, was not completely satisfied with his Ferrari.
“When you’re so close to the walls it immediately takes away confidence,” Sainz said. “Losing the rear (of the car) in places you don’t expect to lose it.”
Traffic forced a couple of drivers to swerve around other cars struggling for space on
Spanish veteran
Alonso failed to make it into Q2 and so did
Norris only just squeezed into Q2, but then found his rhythm.
Verstappen won the race from pole last year but will be hard pushed to win his sixth race of the season.
Before the third practice, he chatted with Liverpool soccer player
The two Dutchmen used binoculars to view the scenery; such as the armada of giant yachts and
Perhaps they chatted about the upcoming European Championship, where Van Dijk captains
Verstappen’s winning habit saw him clinch an F1 record 19 victories last year — beating his own record from 2022 — and he is already third on F1’s all-time list with 59 as he chases a fourth straight world title.
But he did not lead in any of the three practice sessions in
Early in P3, the red flag came out after Sauber driver
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