Charles Leclerc secures pole in Belgium as Ferrari dominates

Charles Leclerc secures pole in Belgium as Ferrari dominates

Charles Leclerc drove brilliantly to earn pole position for the third time in his fledgling career, ..

Charles Leclerc drove brilliantly to earn pole position for the third time in his fledgling career, with teammate Sebastian Vettel qualifying in second to secure a front row lockout for the Italian manufacturer in Belgium.The young Monegasque driver was streets ahead of the competition, finishing more than seven-tenths of a second ahead of Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in third.Ferrari is without a Grand Prix win in the 12 races so far this season — with a totally dominant Mercedes winning 10 of those — and it has been the Red Bull of Max Verstappen that has provided Mercedes' biggest challenge in recent weeks."It felt good, the first sector wasn't quite what we wanted, but from the second corner onwards we were very strong and it felt amazing," Leclerc told Sky Sports. "We need to work on our race pace a bit, but I think we should be strong tomorrow."Despite Ferrari's success, more questions are likely to be asked of Vettel's performance and how the four-time world champion finished so far behind his junior teammate.READ: Formula One returns — Can anyone catch Lewis Hamilton?READ: Ferrari youngster Charles Leclerc dreams of 'becoming world champion'It has now been more than a year since the German won a race, coming this time last season at Spa, though despite admitting his final qualifying laps were a "mess" he still pipped Hamilton to second place by just 0.015 seconds.It was a chaotic qualifying session that saw drivers queuing up to start their flying laps and at one stage, Hamilton had to brake sharply to avoid swerving into the back of teammate Valtteri Bottas."In the end it's good we secured the first row," Vettel told Sky Sports. "I was in the queue which doesn't help but no excuses, we look forward to the race tomorrow and we have good pace in the car — it was much better today."That Hamilton was even able to compete on Saturday was a miracle in itself, after a big crash in the final practice session left his car heavily damagedRead More – Source

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