Fred Vasseur, at the end of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, considers Carlos Sainz’s fourth place and Charles Leclerc’s sixth place to be a step forward compared to previous performances. The Monegasque, in reality, had initially set the seventh fastest time, but slipped one spot forward on the starting grid after Oscar Piastri’s lap was canceled due to track limits.
“A small step forward compared to yesterday,” the team principal commented to Sky Sport F1, “but it’s not enough, because we wanted to be a little further forward on the grid. Overall, though, we’ve made a step forward: Charles was doing a good lap when he had a lock-up at Turn 4, but before that moment he was much faster than his previous attempt. That means it was a good lap. The goal is obviously to finish the lap, and not to do a good lap until Turn 4, but we’re probably in a better condition than yesterday.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Regarding Sunday’s race, Vasseur highlights the differences compared to the Sprint Race, adding what Ferrari’s expectations may be: “We saw today that there is a sort of DRS train, if you take the right train you can stay on that train. I imagine there will be a lot of battle on lap 1. Clearly the race is different from the Sprint, because strategies and pit stops come into play, but it is clear that the DRS train has a huge effect, we are talking about more than 6 tenths per lap and 6 tenths is the figure between the second and tenth position. This means that if you take the right train you can stay in the DRS and that’s a good thing.”
During the Sprint Race, both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc highlighted problems relating to brake temperatures. A problem, according to Vasseur, solved, even if the real negative surprise of the weekend remains the bouncing: “We have undoubtedly solved the problem, but I think that this morning everyone had it, because once you enter the train you overheat a bit of everything and you have to manage. Everyone was managing the pace.”
“The bad surprise of the weekend was that we had a bit more bouncing than expected and that was hurting the riders in the high-speed corners, between Turn 7 and Turn 10. Today we fixed things a bit compared to Norris, but it’s not enough. Turn 9 and 10 are better: we struggle in Turns 6 and 7 but in terms of pace we are getting closer.”
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