Ferrari said before the start of the Qatar Grand Prix that the team would have a difficult weekend. The predictions were justified: in qualifying for the sprint, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc showed only the fourth and fifth times, losing to both McLaren drivers, with whom they compete for the constructors’ championship.
Carlos Sainz (4th): “The good news is that the balance of the car is better than expected and the lap times reflect that. Before qualifying we knew that our opponents could be fast, and that happened.
In any case, we were not able to get the most out of the car. Although I drove a clear lap, the car had severe understeer and I couldn’t turn properly for the entire lap.
In the final the lap turned out to be difficult – I only had one attempt, because I didn’t ride the first fast lap well, and in the second I didn’t want to take too many risks to push the limits of the track.
I think we have the potential to improve the car enormously on Saturday, especially on the soft tyres. I hope this allows us to take a step forward.”
Charles Leclerc (5th): “I’m not too happy, because we gave everything, but only showed the fourth and fifth time. Not the best result, considering how important this weekend is for us.
For some reason the results of the first practice far exceeded our expectations, while the result of the qualifying was more in line with expectations. In this session we returned to reality. After training, the team expected to perform better, but that did not happen.
Based on the speed in training we have everything we need to fight for victory in the sprint. But if we look at qualifying, the most representative session, we cannot compete. But you never know how things will go in a sprint.”
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.
