The Qatar Grand Prix weekend could not have started worse for Carlos Sainz. Even though it’s only Friday, the feeling is that the Ferrari driver’s Sunday has already been compromised. With the new weekend format with the Sprints, it is the Friday qualifying that designates the starting grid for the long race, and things went really badly for the Spaniard.
On a track made very treacherous by the new asphalt and a very strong wind, which continued to bring desert sand onto the track, the son of art was unable to establish the right feeling with his SF-23. The problem was mainly with the rear and the situation worsened when it got dark and the temperature also dropped.
In these conditions, Carlos was unable to express himself at his best and ultimately found himself eliminated at the end of Q2, which he had actually finished with the 13th fastest time. He then inherited 12th place on Sunday’s grid thanks to a time deleted by Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, who like him was left out of the decisive segment of qualifying. The peculiar thing is that the disappointment didn’t even seem too much for him, it almost seems like he was expecting this debacle.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“I had very difficult qualifying sessions right from the start, I struggled a lot with the balance. The rear was very unstable. In free practice I managed to ‘turn on’ the tires and have decent grip with this new asphalt. But then, with the lower temperatures, I couldn’t find grip, so I suffered a lot and I’m not surprised I didn’t get into Q3,” Sainz said in the usual interviews.
If nothing else, tomorrow there will be the chance to try to redeem themselves, because the Shootout Sprint, the qualifying that establishes the Sprint grid, will be held in conditions similar to those of free practice, in which the Ferraris were second and third. For this reason there is at least a hint of confidence that we can do better. Also because doing worse would be tough.
“We hope to find a turning point tomorrow in the Sprint and to have a better Saturday. But Sunday will certainly be complicated having to start so far back on a track that is difficult for overtaking. Now I’m focused on trying to do better tomorrow”, he concluded.
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