Charles Leclerc delivered another superb performance in qualifying at the Yas Marina circuit, to put his SF-23 on the front row on a day when the team actually struggled more than expected, with Carlos Sainz getting no further than Q1. The Spaniard will therefore start from 16th on the grid. Charles will line up just ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes and the duel with the Anglo-German team for second in the Constructors’ classification is also enlivened by the fact Carlos starts not that far away from the rival team’s other driver, Lewis Hamilton, who qualified 11th today.
Carlos eliminated. It was clear that Q1 would be particularly tricky because of traffic and the fact the track would be evolving all the time. 19 of the 20 drivers used two sets of new Soft tyres in this phase and, on his second run, Carlos encountered traffic and could only manage a 1’24”738, which meant he failed to make the cut. Charles got through and in Q2 his performance improved so that he was third quickest.
Q3. In the final phase, Leclerc had one set of used Soft tyres from Q1 and the last set of his new Softs. On his first run he managed a modest 1’24”496 but his second flying lap was exceptional and he posted an amazing 1’23”584, a time that only Verstappen was able to beat. This is the Monegasque’s fifth consecutive front row start, a statistic bettered only by the reigning world champion.
The race. The Grand Prix gets underway at 17 local (14 CET), at sunset tomorrow, one hour earlier than qualifying. None of the teams have been able to do extensive long runs at this time of day, so tonight’s preparation work will need to be particularly accurate. The curtain is coming down on the 2023 season, but before that there’s just the matter of 58 very intense laps to contend with.
Charles Leclerc #16
I'm really happy with my lap, and qualifying on the front row is not something we expected today. It's not the ideal track for us and considering the high temperatures, it could be a tough one tomorrow.
Our main target is to take second place in the Constructors' championship. We will give it everything to finish the season on a high!
Carlos Sainz #55
It was a difficult day for me. We found ourselves in a challenging situation leaving the pits late due to a small issue with the front wing. Then the traffic during the push lap didn’t help and I didn’t manage to put a clean lap together, so that was my bad.
So far it has been a tricky weekend but the race is tomorrow and I will push to recover and fight to score important points for the team. It’s not over yet.
Frédéric Vasseur - Team Principal
It was so tight today that anything was possible to the extent that at one point I thought that not just Carlos, but also Charles might have been out before Q3. Today, the out-lap was very important and towards the end of the session we nailed the right approach and we were finally able to do a good job. Charles only had one set of new Softs available for Q3 as we had to use an extra one in Q1 to be safe. But in that last phase he drove one of his mega laps.
Now it’s all about doing a better job than Mercedes tomorrow. We cannot predict what will happen but I think we have the pace. We need to score points with both cars so we will have to be aggressive in terms of strategy with Carlos. Unfortunately, we were late sending him out and he found himself in traffic and was unable to prepare the lap properly. We believe he can move up the field tomorrow, the car seems quite consistent now over a long stint and we can therefore be confident we can do a good job in our fight for second in the championship. We must just focus on ourselves.