Ferrari drivers dazed by front row lockout in Mexico

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were left with more questions than answers after locking out the front row for Ferrari in qualifying for Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The duo properly stunned pole favourite Max Verstappen who was left trailing poleman Leclerc by 0.097s at the end of the day as the Red Bull charger was unable to improve his best time on his second flyer in Q3.

But Leclerc and Sainz’s quickest lap in the segment was also produced on their first hot lap.

Ahead of the afternoon session, the Scuderia’s clean sweep was anything but expected. Leclerc had been pessimistic earlier in the day on his chances of emulating his performance last week in Austin where he also led the field off the grid on race day.

And after Saturday’s FP3, that Leclerc and Sainz concluded a lowly P13 and P15, chances of seeing the Italian outfit suddenly outpace its rivals seemed quite remote.

• 2023 Mexican Grand Prix - Qualifying results

But as qualifying rolled around, all the ingredients came together at the right time according to Leclerc.

"Absolutely not,” he said when asked if he thought his car was pole position material.

"It's been two weekends in a row where we say that, so then people will start not believing us anymore. To be honest, I did not expect to be on pole position.

"Today, we thought we were lacking quite a bit after FP3. But for some reason, once we put everything together, it went well, [and with] the new tyres, we gained a lot.

"But I'm already focusing on tomorrow's race, because after many pole positions, now we need to convert it into a win tomorrow. And of course, it's going to be very difficult."

Sainz was just 0.067s adrift from his teammate in Q3. But the Spaniard was a clueless as Leclerc regarding Ferrari’s sudden one-lap pace boost.

"It was a very strange one," admitted Sainz. "Honestly, the whole weekend I've struggled to put a lap together, and the first lap that I put together was Q3 run one.

"Suddenly it was P1 at the time, and then Charles pipped me by half a tenth. But I just struggle to understand where suddenly we can find half a second and then go half a second slower in the next lap.

"It's very tricky with the tyres, and the feeling with the car is very strange around the circuit. But we managed to put a good lap when it counted. And it puts us in a good position for tomorrow."

Looking ahead to Sunday’s round of racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a candid Sainz admitted that Ferrari’s performance in race trim is not as good as its one-lap pace.

The Spaniard reckoned that keeping their tyres alive in the race will likely determine the outcome of their efforts.

"Clearly, we are not as strong in high fuel as we are in low fuel," he said. "I think our car benefits a lot from that new tyre, soft tyre peak at the rear.

"We're going to see how we can do tomorrow to keep those tyres alive and to keep that Red Bull behind, because having two cars in front is a good advantage."

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