Fred Vasseur explains Charles Leclerc’s engine change before qualifying | 2024 Monaco GP. Ferrari breaks Red Bull's qualifying dominance and secures the 250th pole position in its history.

Ferrari breaks Red Bull’s qualifying dominance and secures the 250th pole position in its history. Adding to this achievement is the fact that the pole was obtained at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc recorded an unbeatable 1’10″270, confirming his good performance in yesterday’s and today’s practice session. Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, appeared in front of Sky Sport F1 microphones satisfied but aware that the difficulties are not over with the end of qualifying.

At Monte Carlo, pole position is almost as good as gold, but to achieve success, the Maranello team must do everything perfectly tomorrow. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc and the Scuderia managed today’s intense moments well, when a piece of signage made it seem that the star of Friday could get involved in an unexpected and potentially damaging situation for the final result.

“Charles Leclerc has been having a very good weekend so far, then in Q1 there was that piece of signage that got stuck in the car, but he kept his cool. It was a bit of a borderline situation because Charles had to lose 2 or 3 laps on track because of it. But he managed the subsequent phases very well, and everything went fine.”

“Honestly, Charles Leclerc has been flying since the beginning of the weekend. He has been very consistent, with a very fast pace from the start. It’s true that Q1 didn’t start in the best way for us. After just one flying lap, there was that piece of plastic in the car, and we had to stop in the pits to remove it.”

“We were worried because we thought he might be a bit nervous after what happened in Q1. This could have affected the qualifying, but he kept his cool and did a really excellent job.”

Ferrari had to replace Charles Leclerc’s engine between the last practice session and qualifying due to an anomaly, an alarm on a sensor that measures oil temperature. “We changed Leclerc’s engine for safety. We have no concerns about it for tomorrow.”

While Leclerc made Ferrari fans dream, it’s also fair to highlight the significant step forward made by Carlos Sainz in Q3. The Madrid native, after struggling in yesterday’s practice due to a wrong direction taken in the setup, returned to form by securing the third fastest time when it mattered most.

“Carlos was also very strong in qualifying, did an excellent job, and a great lap at the end, and it’s good to have both cars up front in terms of strategy. We know that getting pole in Monaco is exceptionally important, but it doesn’t mean that starting from pole automatically wins the race. So, we must do everything right,” concluded Fred Vasseur.