Leclerc: A big surprise, I did not expect it at all

Struggling for pace until the very final shot Leclerc had in Q3, the Monaco Maestro delivered another Qualy masterpiece for the Scuderia that came out of the blue. And, lining up next to Red Bull's pole winner Max Verstappen, it looks set to be another Las Vegas repeat: The #1 Blue car chased by the #16 Red One,

Speaking after a tense Qualifying, in which his last effort was a masterstroke that shone bright, Leclerc reflected in Parc Ferme: "Honestly considering the weekend we’ve had until now, I did not expect it all.

"The last lap I knew I had to put absolutely everything together and the last corner was a little bit too much sliding, but I think everybody had that, so really happy with the second place. Q1 and Q2 I was worried to go through and at the end front row, so it’s amazing."

Regarding pace found between sessions in the Ferrari, Leclerc ventured: "For some reason our car is very picky, whenever we are on scrub tyres, like the first run in Q3 it was a very good lap, but we were last."

"When we put on the new tyres everything comes alive it felt great and again, I did a great lap so really happy to be on the front row, but it’s a big surprise," revealed Leclerc.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said of Leclerc's surprising effort: "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," reckoned Vasseur.

After Sainz crashed hard on Friday he never really recovered, but being stranded in Q1 was not expected and he admitted in the Ferrari Qualifying report: "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," insisted Sainz

Of the Spaniard, Vasseur said: "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 in the race."

Ferrari trail Mercedes by four points for the runner-up spot, way behind runaway 2023 F1 Champions Red Bull, with only the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix left in the 22 Round 2023 F1 Constructors' title race.

Their rivals for second place, Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, were P4 and P11 on Saturday in Qualy.