Charles Leclerc has been the great dominator of Saturdays so far in the 2022 Formula 1 season, with six pole positions in the first nine rounds, four of them consecutive, but at Silverstone he has fallen to the other side of the Ferrari garage.
In a hotly contested qualifying and with changing rain conditions, Carlos Sainz managed to set the fastest time in Q3 to achieve his first pole position in the top category, relegating Max Verstappen and Leclerc to second and third place respectively.
The Monegasque driver had been very solid in both Q1 and Q2, but at the key moment, at the end of the definitive Q3, he failed and finished three tenths off the time of his teammate in Maranello.
“Yes, but I’m happy for Carlos. He’s done a great job today,” said Leclerc as soon as he got out of his car and after being asked if he was disappointed with his result.
“I spun on the last lap, I knew it was the lap to put it all together, and I didn’t, so I didn’t deserve to be on pole. But third is still a good place to start in the tomorrow’s race. And I hope that, if we put everything together, we can come back”, he added.
Referring to how he approaches Sunday’s race at the Silverstone circuit, where he was second last year and took two other third-place finishes, Leclerc said: “Well, I think the pace is there. So if we do a clean race, everything It should be fine.”
“I hope to have a good start and then obviously tire management will also be key. I think the strategy is not clear yet, there are doubts between one and two stops. So it will be interesting to see who goes to one stop and who goes two stops away, but I hope we make the right decision and we can get back to where we want to be”, explained the #16.
Regarding tire wear, which at one point in the season became a problem for the Italian team, the Ferrari driver said he was confident in this 2022 British GP.
“I don’t think it’s been a problem in the last few races. Obviously we haven’t been able to show it either because we’ve had some reliability issues, but I hope tomorrow will be that day,” concluded the Monegasque.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images