Frederic Vasseur analyzed Ferrari’s Friday with Sainz and Leclerc, who respectively qualified in fourth and fifth positions in the sprint qualifying.
It was a Friday with two faces for Ferrari in Qatar. The team had started the weekend by surprising everyone in the only practice session. However, in the evening’s sprint qualifying, everything went as expected, with Sainz and Leclerc finishing in fourth and fifth positions, respectively, three tenths of a second behind poleman Lando Norris.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal of the Scuderia Ferrari, analyzed the team’s performance in qualifying. These are the Frenchman’s words: “The car was definitely better during this afternoon’s free practice, whereas in SQ3 we suffered too much understeer, which made our lives very difficult. Looking at the positive side, we can say that the important points are awarded only on Sunday, so we need to work to react and prepare ourselves as best as possible for tomorrow night’s qualifying, ensuring we have a competitive car for Sunday.”
Vasseur then added: “The cars are under parc fermé conditions until the end of the Sprint Race, but afterwards, we will be able to make the necessary adjustments for the Grand Prix qualifying session. As for the race pace, it’s quite difficult to get a clear picture since no one did a truly long stint during practice, and we can’t be sure of the level of graining we’ll face. The Sprint Race is scheduled a bit earlier in the afternoon, so the track temperature will be higher, and this phenomenon should be more limited.”
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari