Charles Leclerc finished in fifth place in the qualifying session for the Qatar Grand Prix, while his teammate will start from seventh.
This fifth-place finish does not satisfy Charles Leclerc, as the Monegasque driver was three-tenths of a second behind Verstappen’s pole position and just a few milliseconds slower than the two McLarens. The Ferrari driver was also involved in a fantastic battle with Lewis Hamilton during the sprint race.
It didn’t go any better for his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who finished qualifying in seventh place, behind Lewis Hamilton. The Spaniard, who finished fourth in the sprint race, remained close to George Russell several times but never managed to launch a decisive attack. The gap between McLaren and Ferrari is 30 points, with the Papaya team having their first match point tomorrow.
Pit stops and tire management will be crucial to fight, but overtaking will not be easy. Leclerc, interviewed after qualifying, analyzed the situation and also spoke about tomorrow’s race: “As we saw in the Sprint, it’s really difficult to overtake here. A lot will depend on tire management, but today we were one of the best teams in this aspect. The others have also made progress, so we’ll have to see how things go tomorrow, but we’re not in a bad position. I’m comparing myself more to McLaren than to the others, Red Bull and Mercedes are really hard to understand. They struggled in the Sprint but were very strong in Qualifying. Compared to McLaren, we were slightly faster in the Sprint.”
Carlos Sainz shares the same thoughts but will start from seventh place, behind Lewis Hamilton. Here’s what the Spaniard had to say: “I think Charles’ time was the best we could do today; in the last Q3 round, I lacked a tow, and without a car ahead of me, I lost 1-2 tenths. We’re close on pace: those 2-3 tenths of a gap we expected to have before coming here are evident, confirming what we’re missing on a track like this.
Podium tomorrow? I’d prefer not to get ahead of myself and speak about it tomorrow. Our race pace is better than our qualifying pace, and today we were able to stay behind a McLaren and a Mercedes. However, Norris would have been able to pull away if he wanted. We’ll fight to get the most points possible, knowing from the start that this isn’t our track.” .