The first qualifying in Las Vegas ended with a Ferrari one-two, even if, at least on the starting grid, there won’t be two SF-23s in front of everyone. In fact, due to the ten-place penalty he received for replacing the battery following the accident that saw him unwillingly involved in FP1, Carlos Sainz will be forced to start from the sixth row.
A disappointing result considering the potential shown by the car over the weekend, especially bearing in mind that, already on the eve, the Spaniard had bet on the good performance of the Red in Las Vegas. In fact, in qualifying Sainz finished in second place, right behind his teammate, who took pole position with an advantage of 44 thousandths. The beneficiary of the sanction will be Max Verstappen, who had actually finished in third position after abandoning his last attempt.
“First of all, an exceptional job from the whole team. We dominated qualifying together after a difficult Friday, where we had to put the whole car back together. To get the front row is incredible. Obviously, I would love to be on pole position because it would mean starting 11th instead of 12th. But I think today we did the best we could. Of course I’m still disappointed with yesterday. I don’t want to lie. I’m still in a terrible mood, but I try not to show it too much. But it is what it is.”
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari
The penalty also weighs heavily on the chase for second place in the constructors’ championship, given that for Ferrari it was an excellent opportunity to recover important points on Mercedes. Considering that the damage was not attributable to the responsibility of the team or the driver, the Cavallino team tried to ask the commissioners for an exception, who however responded negatively, underlining that they did not have the authority to guarantee an exception and that , consequently, the regulation had to be followed to the letter.
“If they had the authority to grant a waiver in what they considered, in this case, extenuating, unusual and unfortunate circumstances, they would have done so, but the regulation does not allow such action,” said Sainz, who understood the point view of the stewards.
Attention shifts to tomorrow, where the Madrilenian will therefore have to start from the sixth row, trying to kick off his comeback with a good start, also because Sainz himself has remarked that overtaking could prove more difficult than expected. was initially thought. Dirty air in low-speed corners and unloaded wings, which make DRS less effective, could in fact negatively influence the comeback: “[La mia gara] obviously it depends on the progress of the start, the grain of the tires and the ease of overtaking. I think the pace this weekend is clearly good. I would like to fight for the win tomorrow with Charles and Max, but unfortunately I will be in comeback mode, a comeback race. I hope I can get to the front at some point. But I think it will be difficult.”
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