By Simon Evans
MIAMI (Reuters) – Ferrari’s world championship leader, Charles Leclerc, grabbed pole position for Sunday’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix but warned the brand new track was going to be tough to negotiate.
“(It is) tricky, very slippery, it’s a sliding all around with everywhere and it is very, very difficult to put everything together,” said the Monegasque driver after picking up his third pole in five events so far this season.
“As soon as you get out of the line a little bit you lose a lot of grip and a lot of lap time. So the lap wasn’t perfect, but yeah, good enough to be in P1,” he added.
Leclerc was joined at the front of the grid by Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who shrugged off his crash in practice to finish ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
“Carlos was amazing today, and hopefully we can keep that pace for tomorrow,” said Leclerc.
“Both cars are very competitive, so Carlos and I are very competitive. So it’s great for the team and yes, we’ll push to try and finish in the same positions tomorrow,” he added.
Sainz will be hoping he can get ahead of Leclerc at some stage while aware that Ferrari’s priority will be the maximum points possible.
“The consideration is that we are teammates and that we want to score for the team independently of who is ahead or behind,” said Sainz.
“You always treat your teammate with a bit more respect like I’ve done in the past for all my teammates. This will still be there tomorrow like it was there last year,” said the Spaniard.
“But the will of winning is still there and the chance of winning. If I think there’s a chance then I will go, taking into account that this is my teammate of course,” he said.
Laurent Mekies, Ferrari’s racing director, said it would be a busy session at the team’s headquarters in Italy as they work out how to make the right decisions for the conditions.
“It will be very important to prepare every last detail for the race, starting with how to manage the tyres. This evening, we will work with our colleagues back in Maranello to ensure we get everything out of the car. The start will be very important and we will be up against very tough opponents, who are capable of giving us a hard time in terms of top speed. I predict a great battle,” he said.
(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
