A Friday at Leclerc, starting with an avoidable accident and ending with the best time of the day. After all, Charles had said it very clearly yesterday, in Baku to make the difference you have to take some risks.
The crash into the barriers at Turn 15 was a driver error, and Leclerc is not one to make excuses: “I braked too close to the barriers, where the track was still very dirty, I locked up and ended up against the wall. It wasn’t the best way to start the weekend, but I certainly haven’t lost confidence in the car.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, after the accident in FP1
Photo credit: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images
In the opening laps of FP2, Leclerc opened up several times via radio with his engineers, complaining about a driveability problem. “We don’t see anything from the data,” was the response, but in the end (with all due respect to the sensors) Charles returned to the pits, clarifying that he couldn’t continue in those conditions. And in fact there was a problem, with the steering box.
“It had nothing to do with the accident in the morning,” Leclerc clarified. “We had a problem with a new component that we had just put in the car, but I don’t want to go into too much detail, I’ll just say that I had a very strange feeling with the steering wheel. We solved it, we set off again and from that moment everything went well.”
Ferrari SF-24: the steering box is reassembled on Leclerc’s red car
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
The best time obtained in the qualifying simulation was also due to the evolution of the track, but the feeling seems positive. Leclerc did not commit himself, but in this case no one at the end of Friday in Baku made any predictions.
“We are all very close,” Charles confirmed. “It is difficult to have an exact picture of the values on the field without knowing the different ways of using the engine. This is a track that I like and where we have been quite fast in the past, but that doesn’t guarantee that we will be fast tomorrow. We still have to work on driveability, but we are fast. We have a good base for the weekend.”
Sainz’s Friday was more straightforward. Carlos finished fourth, complaining (like everyone else) about a lack of grip and a neck problem. “The track was really slippery,” he explained, “I would say the difference in performance we all had compared to last year clearly confirms that. For my part, I’m not 100 percent with my neck, I think I slept really badly last night and I can barely move it. But I managed to get through the day, we managed to make some progress between the two sessions and I’m ready for tomorrow.”
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Like Leclerc, Sainz is also convinced that Ferrari will be in the game. “I don’t think anyone managed to do perfect laps today, we will understand more in qualifying when we are all in the same conditions. But we are confident of being on the same pace as Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes, this, I expect an extremely close battle and it will all focus on the preparation of the tyres. Then, as always in Baku, you will have to be in the right place at the right time, here the yellow and red flags can play a crucial role”.
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