“He was just a bit faster,” concludes Charles Leclerc after an incredibly tight qualifying session behind Max Verstappen » FirstSportz

After the Friday race is over, the starting grid for the sprint race is set. Max Verstappen starts for the third consecutive race on pole position, while Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz start close behind in 2nd and 3rd, with the top 3 separated by just 0.082 seconds. Sergio Perez completed the second row with Sainz. It was a hard-fought battle in the final stages of qualifying, with Charles Leclerc waiting for another pole position.

Verstappen had left with two yellow sectors but he was only able to beat Charles Leclerc by 0.029s in his last run. The Mercedes duo looked strong as if in contention for pole position but unfortunately they both crashed causing red flags meaning George Russell starts 5th whilst Lewis Hamilton starts 10th.

Charles Leclerc would be relatively happy with second place on the grid as Red Bull always seem to come out on top in Austria. Leclerc is hoping for an ‘uneventful’ trouble-free race above all else, having eluded a clean race on several weekends, which in turn has damaged his championship charge.

also read: Qualifying results Austrian GP 2022: Max Verstappen secures pole position at the Red Bull Ring

Charles Leclerc: “I just want to drive a clean race.”

In his interview after qualifying, Charles Leclerc didn’t find much in it, as the timesheets showed, the differences in the lap times of the top three were marginal. He said: “All three of us were very close.”

He further elaborated: “On the last lap I was struggling a bit to get the tires back on track after being in the pits for so long, but Max was just a bit quicker, so congratulations to him.” Leclerc is also expecting an exciting sprint race on Saturday and would certainly be very happy about his first victory.

When asked about his attitude for the race, he said: “I just want to drive a clean race. There were five races that were a bit disastrous for my team so I just hope everything goes well and we can finally get the points we deserve.”

Charles Leclerc is now facing a clean weekend. In the last 5 races he has not even finished on the podium and has retired twice, his weekend in Montreal being marred by the aftermath of those retirements and the other two potentially marred by his team’s strategic mistakes. All of this means he has only scored 34 points in the last 5 races, while his alleged rival Max Verstappen has scored 96 points.

also read: Charles Leclerc tells Ferrari to pull their socks up: “We have to make sure these things don’t happen too often in a season”

also read: “He was pissed off,” Charles Leclerc reveals details of the “shocking argument” with Mattia Binotto