Max Verstappen took little time to dispel doubts about who would start from pole position in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Leader in Q1, Q2 and obviously Q3, with a wide margin of safety over a great Charles Leclerc. In yesterday's free practice, something was still missing to make the RB20 perfect even on the fastest lap, something that Verstappen had identified in the difficulty of insertion.
“Overnight the team worked in the right direction,” explained Max at the end of qualifying, but it was already clear from the time monitor that correct indications had arrived from Milton Keynes.
Red Bull seemed capable of making the entire front row its own, but at the last minute Leclerc put in a flawless lap. “I don't think I could have done more than this,” he immediately said via radio to his engineer Xavi Marcos, and reviewing the on-board images of Charles' final lap it clearly emerges that he also took a few more risks to get everything out the possible.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
It's Leclerc's specialty, putting everything together when it counts. For Ferrari the session was less linear than expected, the red flag triggered by Hulkenberg's stop in Q2 cost Charles a set of softs, but in the end the strategy in view of the 50 laps scheduled for tomorrow was not affected.
“On the first lap of Q3 we tried something different – explained Leclerc – by doing a different preparation procedure, but it didn't work well. Then on the second lap I put it all together and this is what was in the car today. I'm really happy with the lap, it's a shame to see that we're further away than we hoped in qualifying, but I hope we can have a nice surprise in the race, perhaps annoying Red Bull.”
Starting from second position was the maximum objective that Ferrari could have achieved. The plans of the Scuderia's engineers include starting the race on soft tires (Leclerc has a set on which he only ran one lap), evaluating the degradation lap after lap and then deciding whether to focus on the hard or medium ones. The difference between the two compounds is not so much in their grip, but in the ease with which they return to temperature after any laps driven behind the safety car, a very likely variable in Jeddah.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
More than trying to annoy Verstappen, for Leclerc the second position in qualifying should be a useful bonus to contain Perez's assault. Starting from the front row is an advantage, but in today's qualifying it hit the top speed of the two Red Bulls, 7 km/h higher than that of the SF24 in the speed trap at the finish line.
However, Ferrari is confident in the grip of the tyres, an objective for which it was already decided yesterday to maintain a greater aerodynamic load on the single-seater. A car that sticks more closely to the asphalt should limit the feared slipping, the primary cause of overheating.
Leclerc seems optimistic, but the results of the long runs completed on Thursday in which Verstappen was unapproachable for everyone remain. The medium tire card could be a wild card, but at the moment it seems really difficult to imagine a Ferrari capable of bothering Red Bull number 1. The situation is different with regards to Perez, the match with Checo seems open, and it would not be an objective secondary for Charles to be able to get his hands on second place on that track which twelve months ago had confirmed the worst Ferrari of the year.
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