Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team driver Charles Leclerc is hoping that his strong ninth place in qualifying can help him score points in the German Grand Prix, and “make up for what we lost in Silverstone“.
The young Monegasque looked like a contender for a points finish in the British Grand Prix having qualified in ninth, with this looking even more likely once the race got underway. Things came to an abrupt halt on lap eighteen though, when he was released from the pits with a loose wheel – ending his race immediately.
That was Leclerc’s first official retirement (he’s classed as finishing the Monaco Grand Prix having completed over 90% race distance), and marked the first time he missed out on potential points. Two weeks on from the error he’s reached the third qualifying session for the third time in his eleven Formula 1 race weekends, and is hoping he and the team can score some points.
“It is great to have finished in P9 – not only for me, but the whole team, as we have achieved another Q3 finish.
“The day started out being quite tricky, with heavy rain preventing us from running for a large part of FP3. We managed to put everything together in qualifying though.
“The balance of the car was good, and the new updates we have on the car are working as expected. Hopefully we can continue like this and score some points during the race to make up for what we lost in Silverstone.
“We have come a long way since the beginning of the season and I look forward to building on that tomorrow.”
