Ritual phrase: “Ferrari certainly cannot be happy with a fourth and sixth position in qualifying.” A correct assessment in an absolute sense, but if we bring it back to the season that the Scuderia is experiencing, the result obtained today in Suzuka still has several positive aspects.
Having abandoned the ninety degree curves of Marina Bay, in Japan the two SF-23s returned to having to navigate fast curves, an indigestible habitat as already seen during the world championship. Both Sainz and Leclerc pulled the brakes on the eve of the weekend, aware that the weekend they were about to face would be much more uphill than in Singapore.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
In the end, however, Leclerc missed the front row by 81 thousandths, taking away the personal satisfaction of having gotten everything possible out of the car. An important injection of confidence for Charles. “I don’t think having an extra set of new tires would have made a difference – explained Leclerc, who arrived in Q3 with only one soft set – this time my lap was really good, I’m sure I didn’t leave anything in track”.
“Compared to the two McLarens we had a significant gap in the first sector, but in the end we were still very close to Lando and Oscar. Happy? It’s a big word, but I can say I’m happy with my performance, even if in the end it didn’t help me. allowed to go beyond fourth position.”
Probably the most important aspect of Ferrari’s qualifying was that it confirmed itself ahead of the two Mercedes, i.e. its direct opponent in the sprint for second position in the Constructors’ standings.
Tomorrow, however, it will be necessary to consolidate the advantage at the start, facing 53 laps in which Sainz and Leclerc will try to annoy the two McLarens, while also having to watch out for Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.
“Today there was a lot of difference between the two Red Bulls – underlined Leclerc – but in the long runs they lapped at a very similar pace, so I expect Checo to confirm himself as very fast in the race. I believe that we will be very close to the McLarens in terms of race pace, but it will not be easy to overtake Lando and Oscar. We will see how the start goes and how we manage the strategies, a crucial aspect in a race in which tire overheating will be a very important factor.”
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, signs an autograph for a Japanese fan
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
For Sainz, sixth position is no cause for alarm. The work program carried out by Carlos over the weekend did not allow him to concentrate fully on preparing for the fastest lap, but the winner of Singapore has no regrets.
“We knew before arriving on this track that there would be some factors that weren’t ideal for us – explained Carlos – the long high-speed corners and the strong wind that was still present today don’t go well with our single-seater. In the three free practice sessions I tried different set-up solutions to try and see the reactions of the car. I saw that it wasn’t working at all and so we went back to the basic setup, but I’m still happy to do these tests, and then I don’t think that overall we could have done much more, honestly the McLarens and Red Bulls this weekend seem more fast.”
Carlos also commented on the three-tenths gap that separated him from Leclerc. “Charles must have had an excellent lap – he admitted – while in the last ‘run’ I wasn’t perfect and this accentuated the difference between the two of us a bit. Charles was a tenth or two faster than me over the weekend, probably having concentrated on the setup tests didn’t help. I would also add that in the outlap before the fastest lap I would have liked to go much slower (the race direction imposed a maximum travel time) because for us the tires were already overheated after a few corners. And even this aspect didn’t help us.”
In terms of the race, Sainz believes that the best opportunity to annoy the McLarens could be the undercut, which is very powerful on the Suzuka circuit. “Max is in a championship all his own – reiterated Carlos – but McLaren should only be a tenth faster than us in terms of race pace. Obviously if they were to confirm this margin in all the laps it would become a problem for us, but the undercut will be powerful, and I think there will be two stops, so I think we could have opportunities to overtake them.”
#Ferrari #attack #McLaren #Mercedes #bay