Charles Leclerc admits Max Verstappen and Red Bull are ‘too fast’ for Ferrari to fight for Belgian GP win

Charles Leclerc was cautious over his chances of winning the Belgian GP after being eight-tenths seconds slower than Max Verstappen in Qualifying.

Charles Leclerc admits Max Verstappen and Red Bull are ‘too fast’ for Ferrari to fight for Belgian GP win

Charles Leclerc (image via Scuderia Ferrari Fans), Max Verstappen (image via F1 Authentics)

Charles Leclerc will start the Belgian GP from pole position. The Monegasque driver qualified on the front row behind Max Verstappen with a gap of eight-tenths to the pole sitter. Although, Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty will see propel the Ferrari driver to pole for the race on Sunday. However, Leclerc remains adamant that the Scuderia is still behind the Milton Keynes-based team.

The Monegasque driver believed that the Scuderia managed to get a decent result in Qualifying despite the challenging conditions at Spa-Francorchamps. He said, “It was not a bad qualifying for us, especially in these circumstances. It’s always tricky to get it all done.” Leclerc admitted that even though the team did its best to secure pole position, it simply lacked the pace against Verstappen.

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Charles Leclerc explained, “That seems to have paid off. We went out a bit early for the last run, but pole wasn’t in it for us today. Max was too fast.” The Monegasque driver was convinced Maranello could have extracted more pace from its car during the session. Although, Leclerc was happy to start from the first grid slot in Sunday’s race at Spa-Francorchamps. Leclerc added, “But we could have been closer to it. Having said that, we have a great starting position for Sunday; we’ll see how it goes.”

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Can Charles Leclerc bag his first race win of 2023?

Max Verstappen and Charles Lecle
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc (Image credits: formula1news.co.uk)

Leclerc has failed to win a single race in 2023 as Red Bull continues their dominance in the sport. However, the Belgian GP could be a window of opportunity for the Monegasque driver who will start ahead of both the cars from Milton Keynes. Although, the massive pace deficit to Verstappen in Qualifying shows that it would not be an easy task.

The Monegasque driver starts alongside the Red Bull of Sergio Perez in the front row. Perez is eager to get a good result this season and would not hold back from fighting for race victory. Moreover, Max Verstappen is expected to be right in the battle for the race win after making his way through the pack courtesy of his blistering pace this season.

Thus, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have a lot of work to do to fight for race victory at the Belgian GP. The Monegasque driver will have track position in the race on Sunday but will face the might of the dominant RB-19. Certainly, fans would look forward to Leclerc’s race start and whether the Ferrari driver can hold back the Red Bulls for a race victory.

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