In the face of a tough qualifying session and and engine penalty, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc vows that he will…

In the face of a tough qualifying session and and engine penalty, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc vows that he will fight until his last lap

In the face of a tough qualifying session and and engine penalty, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc vows that he will fight until the very last lap on Sunday as his “goals remained tha same.”

Having been in the mix for top places in the three practice sessions, Carlos Sainz looked competitive in qualifying. The Spaniard displayed impressive performance in the first two qualifying segments, and he was quick in Q3 as well, but he failed to beat the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on a weekend when Ferrari still has a slim chance to clinch its first Constructors’ title since 2008.

His team-mate Charles Leclerc was quick through the first two qualifying sessions, and completed a Ferrari one-two in Q2 before his lap time was deleted. As a result, the Monegasque slipped down the order to P14, and with the ten-place grid penalty that he received for exceeding his power unit allocation, he will start from the back of grid on Sunday.

Despite the unfortunate situation, Leclerc vows that he will not give up on fighting for the Constructors’ title for Ferrari which is now looking even more difficult, with McLaren having secured a one-two for the Abu Dhabi season finale courtesy of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

“My goal remains the same: to win the Constructors’ Championship. I believe in it as much as I did yesterday. It’s ambitious, but it’s still possible on paper and I will fight for it until the very last lap.

“In terms of qualifying, I don’t think we would have managed to beat the two McLarens. However, with my lap time deleted, P14 added to our 10 place grid penalty will make this a really challenging goal to achieve.

Leclerc continued: “Our race pace is okay but McLaren seem to be stronger. We changed our car quite a bit since FP3, and I believe we went in the right direction.

“Our tyre degradation seems better than that of some of the others, so I hope this can give us some advantage. Anything can happen tomorrow and we will give it absolutely everything,” concluded Leclerc.