2023-10-29 08:35:06
Mexico (AFP) – Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc starts from first place in the Mexican Grand Prix, the nineteenth stage of the Formula One World Championship, after setting the best time in the official tests on Saturday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit (4.304 km) in Mexico. .
Published on: 10/29/2023 – 09:35
2 minutes
The son of the Principality of Monaco, who will start from first place for the fourth time this season and the 22nd in his career, outperformed his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. and the Dutch three-time world champion Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
The Scuderia team achieved a surprise by grabbing the first two places on the starting table against Verstappen, who was a strong candidate to grab first place.
The Dutchman, who dominated the three free trials, trailed Leclerc and Sainz by 97 and 30 thousandths, respectively.
Leclerc started from first place last Sunday in the United States Grand Prix, while Verstappen started from sixth place, without this preventing him from winning the race.
In turn, Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Alpha Tauri), who returned to competition last weekend in Austin after recovering from a hand injury he suffered at the end of last August in the Netherlands, which deprived him of five races, surprised everyone by grabbing fourth place.
The second Red Bull driver, Mexican Spercio Pires, settled for fifth place despite the unconditional support of tens of thousands of fans, slightly ahead of Mercedes driver, seven-time world champion British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) starts from seventh place, ahead of the second Mercedes driver, Briton George Russell, while the Alfa Romeo duo, Finnish Valtteri Bottas and Chinese Qu Guanyu, come in ninth and tenth places.
The disappointment in the tests was for British McLaren driver Lando Norris, who climbed on the podium four times in a row, as he will start from the penultimate nineteenth position.
Here are the results of the third round of official experiments:
1. Charles Leclerc (Monaco/Ferrari) 1:17.166 minutes
2. Carlos Sainz (Spain/Ferrari) 1:17.233 d
3. Max Verstappen (Netherlands/Red Bull) 1:17.263 d
4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/AlphaTauri) 1:17.382 d
5. Sergio Pires (Mexico/Red Bull) 1:17.423 d
6. Lewis Hamilton (GB/Mercedes) 1:17.454 d
7. Oscar Piastri (Australia/McLaren) 1:17.623 d
8. George Russell (GB/Mercedes) 1:17.674 d
9. Valtteri Bottas (Finland/Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 1:18.032 d
10. Dzhou Guanyu (China/Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 1:18.050 d
© 2023 AFP
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