“If we win tomorrow I will be extremely surprised but never say never.”
Charles Leclerc has confessed he would be “extremely surprised” if he can repeat his Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza, despite starting once again from fourth on the grid.
Leclerc had been second after the first Q3 runs, within a tenth of Max Verstappen, but both Verstappen and the two McLarens improved on their final laps, dropping him to fourth.
Last year, Leclerc also started fourth, jumping to second by the end of the opening lap after the McLarens fought each other into Turn 1. Ferrari then rolled the dice with a one-stop strategy — a gamble that secured victory in front of the Tifosi.
This time, however, Leclerc is blunt about his chances:
“Last year was close to impossible I think and in the end we did a different strategy which helped us get the win,” Leclerc said.
“I think this year is even more difficult than last year and also the strategy I believe is clearer for everybody. It’s going to be tough or more tough to do something different. If we win tomorrow I will be extremely surprised but never say never. Last year, we did it so I hope we can do it tomorrow.”
Q3 without improvement
Unlike his main rivals, Leclerc couldn’t improve on his final lap. He felt his first run was already as close to perfect as he could achieve.
“I knew my lap was… I hate to say perfect and nobody ever does a perfect lap but I think it was as close as what I would want to do during a qualifying lap,” he admitted.
“I knew that it would be very difficult to beat that on the second timed lap which I didn’t. When I saw that Max went in front I knew that most of the time you do the best lap on the second lap in Q3 and you take all the risk there. I knew I had taken all the risk in the first run.
“I wanted to go for it a bit more in the second run but it didn’t work out. I have no regrets as I think that’s the place we could get in the best possible case but of course, when you see that you’re P1 once crossing the finish line, you believe in it. Reality caught us back.”
