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Charles Leclerc took pole at the 2022 F1 Singapore GP qualifying, pipping championship leader Max Verstappen in Q3. Leclerc has now scored his ninth pole position of the year, showcasing his qualifying prowess in 2022.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton looked to be on track for pole position, but both lost out to the Monegasque driver at the end of Q3, in what was a nail-biting finish. The Dutchman looked especially strong to take pole in Singapore but was told to back out of his final Q3 lap by his team. Leclerc's final Q3 lap was good enough for pole position in intermittent conditions, while his teammate Carlos Sainz could only manage a P4 finish at the end of qualifying.
Charles Leclerc credited his team for putting him on the right tires at the end of qualifying. He told Naomi Schiff in parc fermé:
“It’s been a very very tricky qualifying. Q1, Q2 on the inters and then in Q3 we didn’t really know what to do but went for the softs at the very last minute. It paid off. It was really really tricky at the end and I made a mistake in my last lap and I thought we wouldn’t get pole but it was just enough. So I am really really happy.”
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are actively involved in Ferrari's meetings, claims team principal
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto recently explained that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are actively involved in team meetings to ensure that the team can develop and improve holistically. The Scuderia has been heavily criticized for depending on its drivers too much when it comes to race strategy during Grand Prix weekends. Ferrari defended this by emphasizing that this is a way of ensuring that all members of the team are involved to make sure the right decisions are made.
In a press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Italian Grand Prix, the Ferrari boss said:
“As far as the drivers are part of the project, as they are no external people, simply being there participating but not being involved, they are involved in all our process of improvement, they are involved in our discussions, they are involved in our review post-races and they are involved real time during the race weekend, whatever we are doing so on the strategies, they are involved in the race, in the discussions that we got on the Sunday morning, and as well during the race itself.”
Charles Leclerc currently trails Max Verstappen by 116 points in the drivers' standings. This potentially gives the Dutchman the chance to clinch his second title this weekend if he manages to outscore the Monegasque driver by 22 points or more. With the Ferrari driver on pole position for Sunday's race, however, he currently holds the upper hand against Verstappen at Marina Bay.
