“happy… yes and no,” said Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari nightmares don’t seem to end. The Monegasque is set to take a 10-place grid penalty, meaning even if he finished second yesterday, he begins at P12 tomorrow. Max Verstappen‘s Q2 exit from yesterday’s qualifying session in Saudi Arabia was a dramatic twist to the expectation of boring Red Bull dominance. While nobody saw it coming, one exit from the championship favorite doesn’t make Charles hopeful.

The man who dominated Saturdays last year hasn’t quite been close to the Red Bull in the two qualifying sessions we have seen so far. And while the season has only just begun, the Ferrari man seems to have yielded already. While one RB man got out in Q2, another stepped in just at the right time to shoulder the Milton Keynes responsibilities and claimed the pole in the same circuit where he claimed his first of the two in his tally. And the dominance of Red Bull has everyone bow down to them.

As quoted by Crash.net, in the post-qualifying interview, Charles told the media, “I think I put everything in it,” he said. “It was really on the limit. But on the other hand, Red Bull are on another planet and we are struggling a little bit. We need to keep pushing – that is what we are doing as a team.”

Knowing he has to recover a huge number of grid positions, he gave a realistic assessment, saying, “The race is not going to be easy. We have a 10-place grid penalty,  so we will be starting a little bit further back and hopefully, I will come back to the front as quickly as possible.”

Read More: Tifosi Hail Charles Leclerc’s Miraculous Recovery as Ferrari’s Flaws Take Back Seat: “Deserves So Much Better”

The bashing by Italian media and subsequent rumors of all not being okay at Maranello have been making rounds around the paddock. Leclerc has now stepped in shed light on it.

Charles Leclerc denies Maranello troubles

The Ferrari troubles, which seemed like their trademark quality in 2022, have poured over to 2023. Despite an underwhelming start to the new season’s campaign and no respite from the troubles, The Monegasque has now stated that all is well at the scarlet team.

The Athletic quoted him as saying, “This is absolutely untrue. Again, there have been loads of rumors around the team, which, for once, 90 percent of them were completely unfounded. I don’t know from where it is coming from, and to be honest, I don’t want to spend even any energy on trying to find from where it’s coming from. We just need to be on it and focused on ourselves.”

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What are your predictions for Charles beginning from P12? Can he turn it around?