Charles Leclerc says he knew from the second he took to the observe in FP1 that he can be within the combine for his fourth consecutive pole place in Baku.
Leclerc’s weekend acquired off to the worst doable begin, with the Monegasque binning has automobile lower than midway into the primary apply hour after which dropping a lot of FP2 to an unrelated steering challenge.
However Leclerc mentioned the problems by no means dented his confidence, which rocketed to sky-high ranges from the second he took to the observe on Friday.
“The automobile felt actually good since FP1 and, truthfully, we barely modified the automobile from FP1 to now,” he mentioned. “Straightaway I felt completely happy, and the steadiness remained actually good.
“We needed to counter just a little bit the observe evolution, as a result of there was a whole lot of observe evolution, however the feeling was there straightaway in FP1 regardless that there was not many laps [after the crash].
“That didn’t cease us to get better after that and to be comfy for all of the weekend.”
Leclerc’s type was so robust that both of his Q3 laps would have been fast sufficient to take pole, along with his margin ultimately blowing out to 0.321s.
“It was a great lap,” he mentioned. “I simply took just a little bit extra danger in comparison with the primary run in Q3. It was essential to only have a lap on the board after which within the second lap you simply take extra danger and see what occurs. Fortunately I completed each of the laps, and so they had been good laps.”
“Each lap I used to be doing was fairly aggressive from Q1, and the steadiness was feeling actually good.”
Leclerc is the Baku Metropolis Circuit’s most prolific qualifier, this being his fourth pole place on the eight-year-old venue, however the Ferrari driver was at a loss to clarify why he’s so efficient across the uncommon observe.
“It seems to be like I’m very constant however I don’t actually have the magic reply,” he mentioned. I similar to the rhythm of this observe.
“I’ve been desirous about it, and clearly when you could have a great weekend, you attempt to analyze, however I don’t actually have a robust reply to it.
“I suppose it simply goes with my driving type very naturally as a result of more often than not it’s important to work rather a lot to attempt to achieve lap time, however there I simply really feel good with the rhythm of this observe for some cause. That makes it a very good observe for me. “
However regardless of Leclerc’s single-lap prowess, he’s but to show pole to victory in Azerbaijan, his third-place end final yr his best-ever Baku consequence.
His prospects of changing this weekend stay unclear, along with his disrupted Friday that means he had no time to conduct a race simulation, however the seven-time grand prix winner was optimistic the SF-24 can be as much as the duty of scoring back-to-back victories two weeks after profitable in Italy.
“I didn’t do a lap with excessive gas, but it surely’s been a fairly robust level of the automobile this yr, so I’m not anxious going into tomorrow’s race,” he mentioned. “Clearly we have to get issues proper, so I might want to do a little bit of homework tonight so as to prepare for tomorrow, however I’m not too anxious.
“We’ll do the most effective job with our package deal after which we are going to see if it’s adequate to win the race or not.
“It might be good! In 2021 and 2023 it was fairly surprising the pole positions. We didn’t have the tempo within the automobile to win. In 2022 we had a great automobile after which the engine blew up, so hopefully the tempo is there and we don’t have something which stops us from profitable it.
“However earlier than desirous about the ultimate consequence, there are nonetheless a whole lot of laps round this observe, and it’s a really tough observe, so we are going to see tomorrow.
“Within the meantime I’ll simply make it possible for I’m doing the most effective preparation doable.”
