Charles Leclerc qualified fourth at Suzuka, less than a tenth of a second behind both McLaren drivers. After the session, the Ferrari driver said he did not expect to lose so little to his rivals.
Carlos Sainz’s streak of two pole positions in a row was interrupted – in Japan the Spaniard showed the sixth fastest time in the qualifying final.
Charles Leclerc (4th): “I definitely didn’t expect to get so close to McLaren, and we certainly didn’t expect to finish ahead of them. They found something that allows you to go faster in the first sector. They made a big step forward compared to Friday and after the third practice we knew that our car was not fast enough compared to them. Furthermore, they performed better in qualifying and saved two sets of soft tires for the final.
However, I did a good lap in the final. I did everything I could and I don’t regret our choice.
Will the stewards take into account that I drove one of the laps too slowly? I don’t expect any problems because I’m sure if they watch this episode in detail they will see that I was in the worst possible position. In the first part I had to let a lot of fast cars pass where possible. The traffic was very strong.
It will be difficult to get on the podium because our race speed is not higher than McLaren’s. If I manage to get ahead of them at the start then it will be difficult for them to overtake us on track, but if I don’t manage to get ahead of McLaren at the start then it will be difficult for me are to overtake them on the track.”
Carlos Sainz (6th): “The weekend is quite tough. We could not find the optimal car settings taking into account the characteristics of the Japanese circuit. We made a lot of changes to the car between training sessions, but we never found the optimal option.
It probably affected my chances in qualifying, but I don’t think I would have gained more positions if I had done a cleaner lap. It is clear that McLaren and Red Bull are one step ahead this weekend.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow. I think we’re going to have an interesting race with a lot of pit stops due to tire degradation. Who knows how it will develop so that we have the opportunity to do better and get a better result.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
