F1 | Ferrari: the rain that fell in SQ3 was a cold shower

For Ferrari the rain that fell on the Shanghai circuit shortly before SQ3 was a cold shower. Leclerc's progression in SQ1 and SQ2 (ending in fourth and second position respectively) seemed to be the prelude to a positive qualifying, with the doubt between the first and second rows.

The final verdict said otherwise, with Sainz fifth and Leclerc falling to seventh place. The conditions in which the final session took place were very difficult, but what might have seemed like an assist to aim for an exciting result turned out to be an obstacle. Both Charles and Carlos struggled a lot to get the tires up to temperature and, on a very slippery track, the lack of grip was a crucial handicap.

“Today the conditions in the final stage were extremely difficult – explained Frederic Vasseur – and we struggled to get the Intermediate tires up to temperature, although I think we were not the only ones to encounter difficulties. We will analyze the data and see what we can learn from this first outing of the season in the wet, although I believe that the asphalt conditions contributed to making the situation even more treacherous.”

Ferrari was overtaken by a McLaren, a Mercedes, an Aston Martin and a Red Bull, confirming that something went wrong.

“We passed SQ1 and SQ2 without difficulty – explained Sainz – but in SQ3 the rain came and we struggled a lot with the intermediate tyres, especially with the rear ones since we weren't able to get them up to temperature correctly”.

During acceleration, the two Scuderia drivers struggled to unload the power of the power unit, losing precious time, an aspect that alarms Sainz also in view of tomorrow's race. “If the Sprint Race is wet it won't be easy for us – explained Carlos – but the forecasts speak of a higher probability of dry conditions, we hope they are reliable”.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Things went even worse for Leclerc. In the out-lap of SQ3 he lost control of the car at the exit of turn 8, ending up against the barriers. Charles was lucky to limit the damage to just the broken front wing, which was immediately replaced after returning to the pits.
“The run off the track compromised my afternoon – he explained – although I don't think I could have done much better than that”.

However, it remains a non-negligible error, which came at a time when Leclerc was trying to improve his performance in qualifying. The good news of the day for Charles is the step forward in the tire warm up seen in SQ1 and SQ2: “We have made some progress on the preparation of the lap in dry conditions and this is positive”.

Ferrari is now hoping for a continuation of the weekend without rain. “For tomorrow the weather should improve – confirmed Vasseur – we expect the rest of the weekend to be dry. We were certainly hoping for a slightly less complicated first day of activity on the track given that we hadn't been here for five years and it was the first time for this generation of single-seaters. We are all working a bit in the dark and the asphalt is particularly difficult to understand, but I think we are managing the situation in the right way. For the start of the day tomorrow the objective will be to bring home points, then we will start working for Sunday when the important points will be awarded”.

The weekend is still long, the choice to use only one set of tires (soft) in the free practice session will allow Ferrari to evaluate more strategies after the sprint race.
“I hope that having saved a set of medium tires today will be useful to us later,” concluded Vasseur, underlining how the Scuderia is the only one of the top teams to still have two sets of hard and medium tires available new. The track remains an unknown, even in dry asphalt conditions, the first verdicts will come tomorrow at the end of the sprint race, when there will still be the possibility of working on the setup of the single-seaters.