On Saturday, Charles Leclerc claimed the pole position in the inaugural Las Vegas GP. However, it is Max Verstappen who is regarded to be faster and will be starting alongside the Ferrari driver on the front row. Now, Alex Brundle, in the Chequered Flag podcast laid out some hopes for the Monegasque even though he seems to be on the back foot due to race pace.
Rosanna Tennant, another F1 expert who was also present in the podcast, also agreed with Brundle on Ferrari having an advantage despite the Red Bull’s mighty race pace.
Speaking about this, Tennant said, “Actually tomorrow if you look at the race pace between the two cars, basically Leclerc and Verstappen, he’s got a little bit of an upper hand, compared to Leclerc. But I think overall the Ferrari just seems to be a bit better with these big, long straights and with the aid of DRS…”
Pole position babyyyyyy 😘
Happy with that, and now we need to convert that into a win tomorrow 💪 pic.twitter.com/yfN74K1GEg— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) November 18, 2023
Notably, the upcoming Las Vegas GP is one of the few races in which Ferrari will enter as the favorite. However, this also comes with Verstappen having an upper hand.
The Red Bull driver is infamous for converting Leclerc‘s pole into his wins for himself. Chances are that the Dutchman will also look to repeat this feat in Nevada on Saturday. As things stand, the three-time world champion already had an advantage even before he started the race.
Ferrari’s drawback an impetus for Max Verstappen
Coming into Nevada, Ferrari locked out the front row for Saturday’s inaugural Las Vegas GP with Charles Leclerc on pole and Carlos Sainz on P2. However, the penalty for Sainz pushed the Spanish driver down to P12 and brought Max Verstappen from P3 to right beside Leclerc.
Sainz received the 10-place grid penalty after taking energy store components which was a necessity following the water cover collision during FP1. Even though the Ferrari driver had no fault in this, the FIA still went on to penalize the Madrid-born driver.
P3 in Qualifying 🎲 All to play for in the race @redbullracing 👊 pic.twitter.com/wwmzq5DWu2
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 18, 2023
As the FIA failed to bring out exceptions in the rule, Verstappen wasn’t impressed. He instantly got critical of the management and criticized the way Sainz received the penalty. Nevertheless, it was the Red Bull driver who gained from this.
The Prancing Horse has been impressive throughout the weekend despite Sainz’s difficulty. They repeated their FP2 results in Q3 [P1 and P2] and looked at par with the Bulls, unlike in other circuits. However, it will be interesting to see how Charles Leclerc manages to keep Max Verstappen who’s bestowed with a superior race pace, behind for long.
