Charles Leclerc was considered one of the main contenders for pole at Imola, but only posted the fourth fastest time in qualifying. The Ferrari driver admitted that Red Bull Racing’s speed was higher than the Italian team’s expectations.
His teammate Carlos Sainz set the fifth fastest time and expects to finish on the podium in the race.
Charles Leclerc (4th): “The weekend went well for qualifying. Based on the training results, it is difficult to assess the balance of power, because everyone works according to their own programs with different amounts of fuel in the tanks.
I think Red Bull was working with full tanks because unfortunately today they were faster than we expected. We did everything right, but the car just didn’t have enough speed.
Actually, we lost time to them in the second and third turns for certain reasons. This season we generally lose time to our rivals in the first two or three turns, and we must pay special attention to this point.
The goal is to get on the podium and I will do everything in my power to do this, but still the main goal is to win. Tomorrow it won’t be easy to achieve this result as there is only one DRS zone, but we have a good race pace. We try to think of something strategically and see what the result is.”
Carlos Sainz (5th): “I don’t think the team had high expectations. The press previously had high expectations of the new products.
From the outside it looks like we have dramatic updates, but we see the numbers and understand that these new items are not that important, but they work exactly as we expected. I can’t reveal the numbers, but if I did you’d be surprised.
I always thought Imola was better suited for McLaren and Red Bull, and we have had problems here in the past. Therefore, even if you bring new products, but the track does not suit your car, you will have a difficult weekend.
This year we look better in the races than in qualifying, so I hope I can be on the podium tomorrow. We will do our best to do everything we can to achieve this.”
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.
