“Charles was actually having a bit more pace” – Max Verstappen won the Monza sprint towards the final stage beating a seemingly certain winner in Charles Leclerc.
Max Verstappen admits he was finding it difficult to overtake Charles Leclerc, with the Ferrari driver looking strong to win the sprint in Monza.
But the Red Bull driver eventually succeeded in the final lap, ensuring the pole position for tomorrow’s race. He feels Leclerc’s tyres lost steam, which helped him in grabbing the pole position.
“The start was very bad. I don’t know exactly what happened or why it was so bad, just too much wheelspin.
“We had to stay calm and it initially looked like Charles was actually having a bit more pace. But then I think he ran out of tyres and we could close the gap and then go for the move into turn two.
“I know maybe tomorrow it might be again a bit different but for sure today it worked out for us to be on this compound. So I’m very happy to have a clean sprint race at the end.”
P1 in the sprint and some good points for the team 👍 We’re well underway but have to finish it all tomorrow 👊 pic.twitter.com/o07cFBIOKW
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 23, 2022
Can Leclerc beat Verstappen to win Monza?
Max Verstappen has got Charles Leclerc concerned for tomorrow, as the battle heats up. But Leclerc is eager to let of what happened on Saturday, and come back strong for the race, as he looks to extend his lead at the top.
“We struggled with the tyres at the end, we need to analyse that for tomorrow. In the end, the main race is tomorrow and we need to make sure that we are ready.
“The pace was good until then. Then we started to have some graining on the front left and lost it towards the end. But it’s life, we’ll work and come back stronger tomorrow.”
