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Charles Leclerc admits to being startled by Ferrari's pace in Austin, but applauded his team's efforts after taking a remarkable pole position for the United States Grand Prix in a dramatic qualifying.
Leclerc was in excellent form for much of the day, topping the timesheets in Q2 after finishing second in FP1. Already in P1, Leclerc improved on his final attempt in Q3, clocking 1m 34.723s to clinch the pole after Max Verstappen's time was removed. This is Leclerc's third pole position on a Sprint weekend this season, following Baku and Belgium. "I don't know. I think as a team we did a great job. We know that in this Sprint weekend, it's more important than ever to have a clean FP1 [and] we did. We had a good FP1, we started with a strong base thanks to the work the guys have done to prepare this weekend, with a car straight away feeling good, then I was feeling good," Leclerc was quoted as saying by Formula 1. "I was happy throughout qualifying, the last lap in Q3, there were a bit of mistakes here and there, but I think it wasn't easy for everybody. So, really happy to be starting on pole for Sunday," he added. Talking about whether Ferrari were surprised by their pace compared to their rivals, Leclerc said, "Yes, we are. In the last sector, we have been very strong whether it's in FP1 this morning or in qualifying. But all in all we have a strong car and the feeling with the car is good. That is our strength, we've seen it quite a few times this year that whenever we have Sprint weekends, we are most of the time performing better than expected." "We have arrived in FP1, we have a very solid base with the car, and then we get to qualifying, and then we do the job. It feels good, tomorrow might be a bit more difficult because people will learn from today and they will feel a bit better tomorrow in the car. But whatever, I will do everything to be on pole again tomorrow," he added. Carlos Sainz finished fourth, more than two-tenths slower than Leclerc's performance from last year. He detailed why he struggled to get the most out of the car in Austin after stepping out of the cockpit. "It's been a normal quality. I was just struggling a bit in the last sector the whole way, always lacking one or two-tenths in that part of the lap. Everywhere else I felt good," Sainz said. "It's obviously a bit tough to set up the car to my liking with only one FP1 session and maybe there is some work to do there for tomorrow. But in general, we put together some decent laps. Obviously congrats to Charles for that pole because its great news for the team to know that we can be on pole on these kinds of tracks, and now focus on tomorrow, and the race that we will start fourth, it's not a bad position," he added. (ANI)
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