Among the narrow streets of Baku, Ferrari found its first pole position of the season thanks to an extraordinary Charles Leclerc, once again capable of pulling yet another magic out of the hat in qualifying. A pole that Laurent Mekies, sporting director of the Cavallino, defined as special, like his driver.
Today’s result at Ferrari came almost as a surprise, because on the eve of the weekend, the Reds expected to fight with Mercedes and Aston Martin, not with Red Bull. But on a track that Max Verstappen defined as suitable for the characteristics of the SF-23, Leclerc still managed to extract that something extra from the single-seater.
“It is a great pole for the team. Charles, yes, it’s very special here [a Baku], has something more. He is already very strong in qualifying, but we must pay tribute to the fact that he has something extra in Baku. In the last two years he has been in pole position. But the reality is that it was also positive to have both cars battling for the top four positions,” explained Laurent Mekies at the end of qualifying.
Today’s pole also represents a small success for the efforts made in recent weeks behind the scenes, with a lot of hard work to try to extract something more from the SF-23 in terms of set-up. Progress which, again according to Mekies, confirms that the path chosen in Melbourne, where Ferrari had already hinted that it had made some small – but significant – changes to the set-up, is the right one on which to continue building with future updates.
“It has been very hard work since the last race. We saw some positives in Melbourne, even if we came back with zero points. Today there is another small sign that makes us understand that we are going in the right direction. It’s only Friday, but here we are.”
“I’d be lying if I said that here we expected to fight for pole position. But I think that’s true, as Fred explained [Vasseur] after Melbourne, we had the feeling that in Melbourne the car was in a different window, that it was giving us performance, especially at low speed”, added the Ferrari sporting director, underlining some progress already seen in Australia precisely in the low-speed corners. speed, so much so that Ferrari had achieved competitive times in the last split.
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“There are a lot more low-speed corners here, so somehow we had some confirmation today. I repeat, it’s only Friday. We need to see what the race pace will be tomorrow and on Sunday.”
As Mekies well specified, “it’s only Friday”, a phrase that this weekend with the sprint format that offers even fewer indications than usual. In terms of race pace, in fact, Ferrari only made two runs of about seven laps each on hard rubber in the first free practice session, with temperatures and grip different from those that will be seen later in the sprint and in the race.
“The truth is that we will only see the answer on Sunday and we will understand how much a compromise it is compared to what the others have done,” Mekies explained when asked if the car had a set-up more geared towards qualifying than competition. competition.
“I think it’s fair to say that with this type of format the time available to find the set-up for the race is practically nil, so there is more emphasis on the preparation work and then we see on Sunday. Generally, Sundays are a bit weaker than Saturdays, but we are working hard to change this ratio. It’s good to start up front on Sunday and we’ll see what kind of race pace we have.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
If pole came from one side of the pits, on the other Carlos Sainz was unable to go beyond fourth place about eight tenths behind his teammate. To weigh was the poor feeling with the car and a strategy in terms of tires which, thanks to an unexpected spin, allowed him to complete only one attempt with new softs in Q3. Mekies explained the Spaniard’s difficulties also referring to the format, which offers very little time to find the right confidence before qualifying.
“I think that with this format, with only one free practice session followed directly by qualifying, it is difficult to find the right confidence. Then you go to qualifying, there are several red flags, you don’t have a time on the board yet, there’s a bit of pressure, he spun losing a set of tyres. If you put all these elements together, I think this could explain why I haven’t found the right confidence, but we are only at the beginning of the weekend”.
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