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Leclerc chases Verstappen and Massa to enter top-20 in F1 pole position

Charles Leclerc took his seventh pole of the season in France and entered the top-20 of the category, alongside Sir Stirling Moss, Brazilian Felipe Massa and rival Max Verstappen

Leclerc chases Verstappen and Massa to enter top-20 in F1 pole position

Charles Leclerc experienced a disaster for his Formula 1 World Championship pretensions last Sunday (24), when he spun during the French GP and went straight into the wall while leading, ending his chances of winning the race and leaving the victory on a plate to rival Max Verstappen. However, the Monegasque still broke yet another record: he entered the top-20 in the category's pole position ranking.

Leclerc has already achieved no less than seven pole-positions in 2022: Bahrain, Australia, Miami, Spain, Monaco, Azerbaijan, and France. With this, he reached 16 in his career and tied with three other drivers who also occupy the 20th position in the ranking: Stirling Moss, Felipe Massa and, coincidentally, Max Verstappen.

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Leclerc entrou no top-20 de poles da F1, mas certamente gostaria de esquecer a corrida na França (Foto: Ferrari)
Leclerc has entered the top-20 in F1 poles, but would certainly like to forget the race in France (Photo: Ferrari)

The two, who are fighting directly for the category title while being watched by 'second-placed' Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz, now have the same number of poles in F1: 16. It is worth noting, however, that Leclerc entered Formula 1 in 2016, two years after Verstappen - which creates a good difference in the number of races: Charles achieved his poles in 92 contests, while Max needed 153 stages.

The Ferrari driver is now one pole away from matching Jackie Stewart, who has 17 and ranks 19th alone. The list of the top 20 [check the ranking at the bottom of the page] includes six drivers still active in the category: besides Leclerc and Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas is 15th with 20 poles, Fernando Alonso is 13th with 22, Sebastian Vettel is fourth with 57, and Lewis Hamilton is the leader with 103 poles.

Formula 1, Ranking of drivers with most pole-positions:

1Lewis Hamilton1032Michael Schumacher683Ayrton Senna654Sebastian Vettel575Jim Clark335Alain Prost337Nigel Mansell328Nico Rosberg309Juan Manuel Fangio2910Mika Hakkinen2611Niki Lauda2411Nelson Piquet2413Fernando Alonso2214Damon Hill2014Valtteri Bottas2016Mario Andretti1816René Arnoux1816Kimi Raikkonen1819Jackie Stewart1720Stirling Moss1620Felipe Massa1620Max Verstappen1620Charles Leclerc16