Leclerc, the 2nd time is not enough: “Poor feeling with the new tyre” | FP

Front row and applause for a rookie

Qualifications atypical for the Ferrari in the evening in Jeddah, the scene of the second seasonal event in Saudi Arabia. In addition to 2nd place for Charles Leclercnot fully satisfied despite conquering the front row behind Max Verstappen at the end of an excellent attempt on the last available lap, the performance of Oliver Bearmancalled up by the Red team during the day and replacing Carlos Sainz, who underwent surgery for appendicitis.

The 18-year-old Englishman, who represents the youngest driver in the history of Ferrari in F1, finished in eleventh positionbut alone 36 thousandths of delay by the man who represents the future of the Maranello company like Lewis Hamilton, who narrowly missed out on Q2. Applause from the entire team for the Prema Formula 2 driver, even if the person concerned didn't seem entirely joyful.

One step away from Q3

Interviewed by Sky Sport F1 shortly after the session, Bearman commented on his first career qualifying in Formula 1, also at the wheel of a historic team like Ferrari: “This morning I woke up and I expected to start 10th in the F2 race, but instead I will start 11th in the F1 race – explained #38 – I didn't have any preparation, so it was difficult to do PL3 first and then qualify. I'm not very happy because I was very close to Q3; it was a bit of a messy session on my part and I'm a little disappointed, but it was a great opportunity. I pushed perhaps a little too much, I overestimated the situation and it was one botched session in which I made some mistakes which ultimately penalized me. My goal for tomorrow is to score points. I haven't done many consecutive laps, except for a few in PL3. My goal is to try to improve and finish in the points, which would be very nice.”

Problems with the new tire

Just over three tenths behind Max Verstappen's best overall time, the name of Charles Leclerc appears, who will try to challenge the three-time world champion in tomorrow's race. However, despite the good performance, the Monegasque did not seem entirely satisfied: “I didn't have the right feeling with the new tyre from Q1, especially with the rear one – he also declared to Sky Sport F1 – I don't know for what reason it was never ready and we had it lots of oversteer. Tomorrow, however, we won't have to get the tires up to temperature after the first lap, so let's hope it's a positive point. I was very happy with the second lap in Q3. I tried something with a different out lap to try to get these tires on, but it didn't work. In the second attempt we went back to doing what we did during qualifying, but the feeling has always been worse than what I expected. Full speed ahead for tomorrow and let's hope we get a good result! We have a higher load compared to the others, and usually this helps in the race, but let's wait tomorrow evening and see if we have made the right choice, which I don't think it's wrong for the race. It will perhaps be a little more difficult to defend, but if we are fast it will not be necessary to defend, and we hope that this will be the case.”