Charles Leclerc (2nd): “Starting from the front row is a lovely surprise”

For Charles Leclerc, qualifying at the Red Bull Ring ended better than expected. This was because Max Verstappen’s crash in the final stages of the qualifying session meant that almost none of his rivals were able to improve their times. There was already jubilation in the Red Bull pit, but then George Russell’s name nevertheless lit up at the top of the timing screen – the Mercedes star had remained 0.236 seconds faster than the Monegasque driver with a time of 1:06.113.

Most GP experts expected the Briton’s lap time to be disallowed again; after all, he was still on track when the double yellow flags were displayed following Verstappen’s crash. However, the stewards decided against a closer investigation after making a note about the Mercedes driver, as he was suspected of having breached the yellow flag rules.

Leclerc took the whole affair in his stride, saying: “To be honest, my lap wasn’t anything special; I just wanted to have a clean qualifying session, and when you think like that, you tend to drive more conservatively. And from that perspective, George would probably have beaten me anyway.”

And the 28-year-old added proudly: “I hadn’t expected to be ahead of the McLaren lads, nor that I’d get so close to Mercedes. That was a lovely surprise, and we were also able to take a step forward in race trim. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to put Mercedes under pressure – in fact, I doubt it – but we’ll certainly be giving it our all.”

“Starting from second place is a good starting position. The team has worked incredibly hard to introduce upgrades in Barcelona and again this weekend, and it’s paying off. To be perfectly honest, right up until qualifying I hadn’t actually thought we’d be starting from the front row, so it’s a lovely surprise that we’re so far up the grid,” Leclerc went on to explain.

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