Rain in the second practice of the Japanese Grand Prix prevented the Ferrari drivers from working on the track. Charles Leclerc said that preparation for qualifying in the third session of free practice will have to start almost from scratch.
His teammate Carlos Sainz noted that the gap to Red Bull Racing in the first training session was smaller than the team had expected.
Charles Leclerc (3rd): “We still have a lot to learn and figure out, but we still have a third training at our disposal. I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow and we can test the solutions that we couldn’t evaluate today.
I also couldn’t work well during the first training because the track was dirty and very slippery. The result was that we learned next to nothing during the first set of laps in the first practice, and then I did one or two quick laps on the Soft tires.
I ended up riding a little bit today, so we’re still left with a lot of unanswered questions. We have to figure everything out before we qualify.”
Carlos Sainz (11th): “In the first training we were closer to Red Bull than we expected, which can be considered a positive sign.
In the five months since the last stage in Suzuka we have made good progress. But still we are talking about the first training – we do not know how much fuel the opponents had in their tanks and what program they were working on.
However, last year we were eight tenths slower than Red Bull in qualifying, and today we were two tenths slower in practice, which can be considered a good start. But it will be difficult to beat them this weekend.”
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.
