Pole Position On Monza, Leclerc Hope Ferrari Doesn't Repeat Blunder

JAKARTA - Charles Leclerc hopes Ferrari's strategy goes well after he opened up a great opportunity to win in his team's home race with the Italian pole position Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Monaco driver is in the best position to win his first win since the race in Austria, early last July, thanks to his eighth pole position of the season.

Leclerc's last attempt at Q3 took him 0.145 seconds faster than his main rival, who is also the leader of standings Max Verstappen.

Leclerc also benefited after nearly half of its competitors were awarded a kick back from the starting position, including Verstappen, who withdrew in five positions for exceeding the engine allocation.

He hopes Ferrari doesn't repeat a blunder like the one they recently experienced in the Netherlands, which saw a messy pitstop, unsafe release, and erratic strategic decisions.

"This is not because we at Monza are more important than other races so we don't make mistakes," Leclerc said.

"We have to be a team that doesn't make mistakes wherever we go. That's right, it's a special weekend for us but our target hasn't changed, we have to have a clean and good race."

Pole Leclerc is the 22nd for Ferrari at Monza. This weekend Ferrari used a special livery with an additional yellow color to commemorate its 100th anniversary of the legendary Italian circuit.

Leclerc will seek to cut Verstappen's 109-point deficit ahead of Ferrari president John Elkann, who recently supported Mattia Binotto to stay head of the team and present the world title before 2026.

Leclerc will wish to repeat his success at Monza in 2019 from pole position, but Red Bull has proven they are able to dominate and even win races despite starting from the back position, as Verstappen did at Spa two weeks ago.