Anger Leclerc, Vasseur explains: "There was little time"

Australian disappointment

While Red Bull is confirmed to be impregnable – at least with Verstappen -, Mercedes improves race after race and Aston Martin certifies its role as the new top team. Ferrari must once again lick its wounds at the end of qualifying for the Australian GP. Not even the elimination of Sergio Perez in Q1 managed to represent an opportunity for the Scuderia del Cavallino, which is wrecked in Q3 being beaten by both rivals directed to the role of anti-Red Bull: Mercedes and Aston Martin. Sainz finished fifth, behind his compatriot and friend Fernando Alonso; Leclerc even seventh, also beaten by Lance Stroll.

Tight times

By radio, returning to the pits, the Monegasque driver let himself go into a blatant outburstcomplaining to the team for not letting him do a additional warm-up round to bring the tires up to temperature. Analyzing the difficult day, the Cavallino team principal, Frederic Vasseuragreed to address this issue as well, explaining how Leclerc paid the little time left on the Q3 clock: “We were on the limit towards the end of the session and so we avoided doing the preparation lap with Charles.”confirmed the French manager.

Sainz could have done better

A common misjudgment, which ruined Red #16’s Saturday. Concerning the third row centered by Carlos Sainzhowever, Vasseur is convinced that it does not fully represent the potential of the Spanish pilot and his SF-23: “Today’s qualifying was extremely tight and unfortunately things didn’t go the right way for us. Carlos couldn’t get the lap together – pointed out the former Sauber boss – losing a couple of tenths in turn 1, without which he could have been second or third“.

Confidence in race pace

In view of the race, a small miracle on the part of the Prancing Horse riders is needed to be able to aim for what would be the first podium of the season. In fact, the Melbourne track is not particularly friendly with comebacks, especially if you don’t have the fastest car in the lot. Vasseur however is convinced of the work that the technicians are doing for enhance the race pace of the SF23: “However, the points are awarded tomorrow – concluded the Frenchman – and after Gedda we worked to obtain a constant and solid performance from the SF-23 in terms of race pace. We will focus above all on ourselves and prepare the race in the best way to recover: overtaking is not easy on this track, but we know it can be an unpredictable race“.