Leclerc: In a difficult situation we did everything we could

The weekend in Qatar did not start in the best way for both Ferrari drivers, but Charles Leclerc at least reached the final qualifying, and even there his teammate failed.

Charles Leclerc (5th): “On a high-speed lap we had a problem where I had to downshift at full speed, which isn’t great, and we lost a lot of time.

During the first attempt we had big problems, but the second one promised to be very good. But when we had to do a good lap straight away, as soon as we left the pits on the track we had major problems with the rear tires. I think this explains the problems in the last qualifying, where I actually only did one fast lap.

The first attempt had to be aborted, so I simply had no choice. Anyway, in this situation we did everything we could, but now we have to work on preparing for tomorrow and try to pick up the pace.

However, as the car is in a closed park, we cannot do much more than think about whether we can change the approach and act differently on the first lap after the pits.”

Carlos Sainz (12th): “Qualifying did not go well from the start due to very serious problems with the balance of the car. The behavior of the rear was extremely unstable, although during training I managed to find an approach to the tires and achieve more or less normal grip on this slippery track with a renewed surface.

But when the asphalt temperatures started to drop towards the evening, the grip also became much worse and it was no longer possible to find the right grip. The difficulties are very high, so I’m not surprised that I couldn’t make it to the last session.

I hope that we can reverse this development and perform well in tomorrow’s sprint, but I predict that it will not be easy on Sunday. I start from the middle of the pack and it is very difficult to overtake on this track, so now my main task is to show the best possible result tomorrow.”