F1 preview: A lap at the United States Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc has opened up on how he punched his steering wheel after he thought he had been robbed of pole position by Max Verstappen for the United States Grand Prix on Sunday. The Ferrari star will start at the front of the grid after producing a superb lap around the Circuit of the Americas, but a momentary miscommunication from his race engineer sent Leclerc into a state of fury behind the wheel of his SF-23 car.
Having already secured provisional pole, Leclerc was part of a six-man battle fighting for top spot in a thrilling qualifying session in Austin on Friday. He managed to improve his lap time by a tenth and a half, keeping himself at the top of the timings before it transpired that Max Verstappen pipped him by five-thousandths of a second.
After receiving a message that began: ‘Lap time deleted track limits’ from his race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros, Leclerc swore at the Spaniard after a brief misunderstanding, as he accidentally forgot to mention Verstappen’s name at the start.
But it came too late as Leclerc had already listened to the words that every polesitter dreaded to hear come through the radio.
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The Monegasque only later realised Padros had meant to say Verstappen exceeded track limits and could be heard giving his engineer a strong reprimand on the radio: “For f***’s sake, tell me the name before!”, before race engineer Padros sheepishly corrected himself to say Verstappen’s name first.
And the 25-year-old said that he struck his steering wheel and race helmet in fury when he mistakenly thought he had lost out on his 21st career pole to the three-time world champion.
“I just had a heart attack because my engineer told me track limits and then for Verstappen,” Leclerc said in the post-qualifying Drivers’ conference. “When I heard track limits, I punched my steering wheel and then my helmet. And then I heard ‘for Verstappen’ and then I was like ‘OK, that’s a bit better news’.
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“That’s why in the moment I said ‘Xavi please tell me the name for track limits’ before’.”
Leclerc will lead the field into the first corner with Lando Norris putting his McLaren on the front row alongside him. Lewis Hamilton could only manage third after it looked as if the Mercedes had the pace to challenge for pole, with Carlos Sainz fourth and George Russell securing P5.
As a result of his deleted lap time, Verstappen is primed to start the race from sixth following a rare off day for Constructors’ champions Red Bull. Sergio Perez’s woes continued as the Mexican could only manage ninth place, and he will be stuck behind Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon at the start.
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