Charles:
“Yes, I'm a bit disappointed: it's been a complicated weekend so far. All in all, qualifying went well, I found more favorable conditions despite having struggled in Q1, where I was forced to put on another set of softs, and this compromised Q3 a bit. In Q2 I think I did a better lap than Max did in Q3, but I lost pace with the first set of softs because it had been used since Q1, and this made me lose confidence when I put the new tire back on.
All in all, however, qualifying was good, but now let's focus on tomorrow's race pace. We are in a better position than in 2023, we will see tomorrow by how much: I believe that Red Bull still has some margin, but if I were to have even just one opportunity, I will attack Max. We always struggled in the race last year – concludes Leclerc – we need to make sure you put things right. I hope for a nice surprise tomorrow."
Carlos:
“I think everyone expected Max's pole position. I have to admit that after the performances in Q1 and Q2, I was convinced that I was fighting for pole position. So I don't understand why we don't find those two or three tenths necessary to make a leap forward, usually we manage to recover something in the last qualifying session and Charles also had the same problem.
In Q2 I preferred to do a more conservative lap to save a tire for the race, and despite not pushing too much I managed to do 1:29.5, while in Q3 I pushed and still did 29.5, so I have to understand why. All in all, qualifying went well, but Q3 didn't go as we thought."