"It's Charles' good looks": Sebastian Vettel on what makes it 'difficult' for Charles Leclerc to come out of hotel at F1 Italian GP

The 2022 F1 Italian Grand Prix is underway. Home to Ferrari, the atmosphere in Monza has its own grandiosity to it, especially with their hero Charles Leclerc starting on pole. It will be an unreal experience to be driving or have driven a Ferrari at Monza, regardless of the expectations and pressure that comes along with it.

Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel also had their two cents on whether it felt like a dream or a nightmare where Sebastian Vettel was joking with Leclerc about his good looks.

Charles Leclerc said:

"For me, it's pure pleasure. Of course, you can feel the expectations. As I was saying, whenever you are doing the events in Milan, especially, you can see that everybody in the city is behind you, is behind Ferrari and have high expectations but it's part of it. And I take it more as a motivation, more than an added pressure but it's incredible."

He further joked:

"Even to get out of the hotel it's pretty difficult to come to the track. I guess it's similar for the drivers but when you are Ferrari there's this little bit more but that just feels really, really nice."

While Sebastian Vettel admitted that he did not have any problems coming out of the hotel room, Charles Leclerc could have trouble due to his good looks and popularity:

Yeah, I've never had the problem with coming out of the hotel but maybe it's Charles' good looks that make him so popular!"

Vettel did not feel the pressure of expectations, but it was actually the other way around for him:

"No, I think it's an extreme pleasure, it's an honour and I think from what I had experienced in all these years, is just… they're happy for you to drive the red car and push you on."

The driver continued:

"I've had races and bad races; they seem both times equally excited. For sure they love you to be on the podium and meet you there and love Ferrari to do well but even if you don't… it's not like they start to hate you, there's still a lot of love and support. So it's a great feeling as a driver to experience."

Fernando Alonso also had a similar experience:

"Yeah, same comments. It's an extra motivation but never a pressure, your performance is not affected by this and if anything they give you extra, so I think it's one of the best moments of the year for sure."

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Charles Leclerc starting on pole

Charles Leclerc landed Ferrari pole position at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix and didn't require the penalties to benefit him. He earned pole over Max Verstappen by a quarter of a second.

The Scuderia driver clocked the fastest time with 1 min 20.161 seconds, while Max Verstappen was one and a half tenths of the pace clocking 1min 20.306 seconds earning P2.

Eventually, he moved to P7 due to his 5 place grid penalty. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz qualified third with 1min 20.429 seconds, but he will be starting P18 due to a grid penalty, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The atmosphere at Monza is soaring, with Ferrari fans being absolutely ecstatic gaining pole and looking forward to a Ferrari win.