Max Verstappen amusingly shut down any suggestion that Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be in the fight for the win at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Mercedes started the weekend off well on Friday, with Russell leading Hamilton in first practice, before the 37-year-old went third fastest in FP2.
Russell was back in top two on Saturday morning as he ended up second behind Verstappen, in what was turning into an extremely competitive afternoon.
The 24-year-old, however, had to work a little harder than he would have liked to get up into the third qualifying session, using an extra set of Softs in the process.
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He made it through along with Hamilton though, and the 37-year-old went third fastest in the first run in Q3, marginally slower than Verstappen in second, and Leclerc on provisional pole.
The Monegasque went quicker still on his second run, but his slight mistake at Turn 10 was all Verstappen needed to go fractionally quicker than the Ferrari and claim pole in front of his home crowd.
Carlos Sainz went third fastest at the end, but it looked as though both Silver Arrows might have the pace to trouble the Prancing Horses, and maybe even Verstappen for pole.
That was until Sergio Perez span at Turn 13, putting pay to both Britons’ laps, as well as his own.
The Mexican was forced to settle for P5 as a result, with the Mercedes drivers either side of him on the grid.
Generally, the pace of the W13 has been better than its one-lap pace, so there is still a chance, depending on Hamilton and Russell’s ability to get moves done, that they can challenge for the podium places.
Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz were all asked in the press conference after the session if they were at all “worried” about the pace of the German side.
The reigning world champion gave a detailed breakdown of the chances of Mercedes competing for the win.
“No,” was Verstappen’s direct and hilarious response.
On a serious note, Leclerc posited that, while Hamilton and Russell will be quicker in the race than they were in qualifying, they are unlikely to be putting too much pressure on the front runners on Sunday.
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“I think they will be closer in the race,” he theorised.
“But I still believe, if we do everything perfect in the race, we will be stronger.”
Verstappen won the Dutch Grand Prix from pole last season in the Netherlands’ successful return to the calendar, with 195,000 fans in attendance.