Charles Leclerc made a good start to the US GP race weekend. The Ferrari driver locked horns with Max Verstappen for the pole position at the end of the third qualifying round. After setting his lap time at 1.34.723, the Dutchman could beat Leclerc’s time by five-thousandths of a second. However, because of a track restriction violation, Verstappen’s time was quickly deleted, and race engineer Xavi Macros relayed this information to Leclerc. However, the 26-year-old expected the worst.
When Xavi informed Leclerc of Verstappen’s deleted time, the Monegasque thought he was talking about his own lap time. However, it was Verstappen’s. Drivers have been under immense pressure to keep within the white lines to avoid wasting their best lap-time attempts.
Leclerc was looking pacey and didn’t want his time to be deleted. Hence, he revealed how he almost had a heart attack when his race engineer told him about a deleted lap time.
How did the events unfold giving Charles Leclerc a mini-heart attack?
During the post-qualifying interview, Charles Leclerc was asked what he thought when Xavi mentioned track limits. “Charles, can you explain what happened on the radio when you were informed about Max’s time being deleted?” queried Luke Smith of the Athletic. In response, Leclerc stated he suffered a “heart attack.”
A rollercoaster of emotions for @Charles_Leclerc 🎢
On pole, not on pole… back on pole! 👀#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qjvvmjLq29
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 21, 2023
The 25-year-old stated, “I just had a heart attack. Because my engineer told me track limits and then for Verstappen. And when I heard track limits. Yeah, I punched my steering wheel and my helmet. And then I heard for Verstappen, and then I was ‘OK, that’s better news for us’.”
Later, Leclerc claimed he told Xavi to mention the name before revealing the track boundaries. With that, the Monegasque believes he will not be overjoyed. He continued by saying, “So no, that’s why I, in the moment, just said to Xavi. ‘Please tell me the name before the track limits, just so I don’t get too excited’. And that’s it.”
Ferrari may have been overjoyed with Leclerc’s pole position at the Austin GP. This pole, however, is unlikely to go well for the Monegasque since Charles Leclerc has does not have a good conversion rate when it comes to converting them into a win.
Leclerc establishes an unpleasant record
Charles Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019, where he displayed some of the most spectacular skills, leading many observers to hope he will end the team’s title drought. However, given that Leclerc’s championship talent has yet to be met with a competent Ferrari car, the presumption appears to be a little ambitious.
In his five years’ time with Ferrari, the Monegasque driver has only won five races and 21 pole positions. However, with this many poles, Leclerc has established a humiliating record by becoming the only driver to have led the grid 21 times without winning even a single championship.
Last year, despite several opportunities to defeat Max Verstappen with the advantage of starting from pole, the Ferrari driver struggled to convert his P1 into race wins. The Dutchman defeated Leclerc five times in 2022, in Miami, Spain, Azerbaijan, France, and Italy, when the Monegasques started from the pole. In addition, Leclerc also lost his P1 spot in Singapore and Monaco to Sergio Perez.
Pole No.21 for Charles 😎#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/8hIh7pbAVb
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2023
However, Leclerc will be desperately hoping that he gets the better of the Red Bull ace come the US Grand Prix on Sunday.
