Charles Leclerc capped off a fine Saturday in Austin with a superb performance in qualifying. He finished the session P5, just a little over a tenth behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who took P4.

Following the lap, the Monegasque expressed his delight over the radio while asking for the times of those who finished closest to him. In addition, he also shared a few words on his own lap.

Charles Leclerc delighted with P5 finish in qualifying

Leclerc, who turned 24 last week, continued his fine form in Austin today. After Ferrari showed proper pace across all three practice sessions, the Monegasque bore the fruits of the SF21’s development in the last few weeks, finishing just behind Bottas.

The Finn will take a five-place grid penalty in tomorrow’s race, which will see Leclerc start from P4 alongside Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. Following the end of Q3, Leclerc took to the radio to sum up his feelings and his lap to his race engineer. “Let’s go baby, let’s go! Come on!” exclaimed the 24-year-old.

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“First corner, I f***** it up a little bit, but after that, was a proper lap.” He then asked about lap times, before heading back into the pit lane. Leclerc finished just ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz, who took P6. The Spaniard will also benefit from Bottas‘ penalty, moving up to P5 in tomorrow’s starting grid.

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Can Leclerc and Sainz score big points on Sunday?

Ferrari would be happy to see both their cars qualify ahead of their rivals this season, McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris qualified P7 and P8 respectively, which could see both teams engage in a feisty battle tomorrow.

With Ferrari trailing McLaren by 7.5 points in the constructor’s championship, they will hope to score a good result tomorrow. While they certainly proved they can do so, McLaren look likely to be on their tail throughout the race. Hence, the Italian outfit need to get their strategy right, while Leclerc and Sainz will need to manage their tires extremely well.

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