by VALERIO BARRETTA
F1 China, Ferrari out of the top-5 on the grid
The sixth and seventh positions on the starting grid certainly cannot allow the Ferrari to leave the Shanghai circuit with a smile. The Scuderia from Maranello, as always from the beginning of the season, took into account losing something in terms of performance on the flying lap and then having a stronger car in the race, but by starting so far behind it is easy to find yourself stuck in traffic and not be able to take advantage of the improvements on race pace.
Leclerc's words
In short, even in China we are seeing that famous short blanket that Ferrari has compared to Red Bull. Charles Leclerc – 6th – commented on his Saturday like this: “It was a shame, because we were all in a tenth and a half. We may be negatively surprised by this result, I didn't expect it. In Q1 the feeling seemed quite good, but in Q3 the wind especially changed and there we lost the feeling“, commented a Sky Sports F1. “I think I've made a good step forward regarding tire preparation. Rather, the first sector has specific characteristics, and I know that in qualifying I would have left some performance there above all to favor the race tomorrow“.
Precisely in view of tomorrow Leclerc is very confident: “I think we have a good set up for the race, it's Sunday that counts. As I often said last year we were happy on Saturdays and not on Sundays, so you can think of the podium. That's the goal for tomorrow, it won't be easy especially if the race goes like this morning's Sprint, where we were all in a DRS train and it was very difficult to overtake. Otherwise it can be done“.
Sainz, no controversy
The Monegasque has forgotten the turbulent Sprint, in which he had a lot to complain about with teammate Carlos Sainz for an overly aggressive maneuver in turn 14: “I made it clear to him, there are no problems“.
#Leclerc #expected #podium #Sainz #I39ve #clear
