Charles Leclerc says starting third for the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix is a “great opportunity” as he looks to score his first podium since the Bahrain Grand Prix in March.
Although Leclerc starts from the second row, his lap-time of 1:10.920 was almost seven tenths-of-a-second slower than his pole-sitting team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
“Today’s result is great for our team and congratulations to Seb for securing pole position,” said Leclerc. “He was very quick today and just put everything together. He deserves it.
“Starting from third place tomorrow is a great opportunity and it will be fun to be in the fight with our competitors. We will keep pushing and do our best to bring home a strong result.”
A major aspect of qualifying was track evolution, the improvement in lap-times as the very dusty Circuit Gilles Villeneuve became cleaner, something that Leclerc says he needed to anticipate more.
“For my part, I have to improve the way in which I anticipate the track evolution, so that I can set up the car to be on point for Q3. I will analyse this and hopefully be stronger in this department at the next race.”
