Vasseur on a shock Ferrari front row in Mexico: "I was quite optimistic"

Max Verstappen dominated every free practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix. But when it mattered most, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz shocked the thrid-time world champion and locked out the front row of the grid for tomorrow's race around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit.

No one expected the Prancing Horse to take this stunning 1-2, except one man. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur spoke to Sky Sports after qualifying in Mexico, saying that their pace in FP3 gave him reason to believe in a strong qualifying session. "I was strangely quite optimistic after FP3 because when we had to abort the laps, we had a good pace before but we didn't know how we would survive Sector 3."

The reason for Ferrari's fantastic front-row lockout? Vasseur explains by saying, ""It's mainly about the tyres. If you start too hard at the beginning of the lap, you kill the rears at the end. It's a matter of balance. "It's mainly about the tyres. If you start too hard at the beginning of the lap, you kill the rears at the end. It's a matter of balance."

The Frenchman concluded, "On the long stints we mainly focused on cooling. Everyone will be focused on the brakes and engine tomorrow.""