Ferrari accepts McLaren’s dominance in Sprint Qualifying, but Sainz and Leclerc remain optimistic about their chances in race pace for Sunday.
Carlos Sainz secured fourth place in Sprint Qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver was relatively satisfied, though he had perhaps expected more. McLaren F1 remains the benchmark this weekend, for now…
“The good news is the car was better balanced than expected, and the timesheets reflect that.”
“We approached qualifying thinking our rivals could still be fast here, and that’s what we’ve seen.”
“Still, we didn’t maximize our package. Even though the lap was clean, there was a lot of understeer in the car, and I just couldn’t get the car to rotate throughout the lap.”
“It was also tough because it was a one-shot qualifying, so I couldn’t take too many risks with track limits.”
“I think tomorrow we have the potential to improve the car a lot, especially with the soft tyres, and hopefully we can make some progress.”
“In race pace, we’re much closer to McLaren, possibly even ahead. But everyone will be able to tweak their setup tomorrow, so we’ll see!”
Charles Leclerc qualified fifth, just behind his teammate.
“We gave it our all, but we’re only P4 and P5, which isn’t great given how important this weekend is for the constructors’ championship.”
“Let’s just say that, for some reason, the first practice session (where we finished on top) was way above our expectations. I’d say this is more in line with what we expected. We’re back to reality.”
“Obviously, after the first session, we hoped we could do better, but we didn’t manage it.”
Can Ferrari compete with McLaren during the Sprint?
“Looking at the first session, clearly yes. Looking at qualifying, no. For now, the most representative session is qualifying. We’re not in the best position.”
“You never know. It’s always different in the race.”
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Ferrari Concedes Sprint Qualifying to McLaren, Eyes Race Pace
Ferrari Concedes Sprint Qualifying to McLaren, Eyes Race Pace
