Leclerc Acknowledges Crucial Importance of Tonight's Qualifying

Carlos Sainz struggled with the pace of the top three in Qatar, while Charles Leclerc recognizes the critical role of qualifying tonight.

Carlos Sainz finished fourth in the Qatar F1 Sprint, but the Ferrari driver couldn’t do any better. Ahead of him, the McLaren drivers and George Russell’s Mercedes were faster in the 19-lap race.

“It was tough, especially on the first lap with no grip. I was starting on the dirty side of the track and picked up dust. Once I got into the rhythm, the performance wasn’t bad, but they were controlling things up front, and Russell had enough to put pressure on Piastri, whereas I didn’t have that,” said Sainz.

Charles Leclerc was hoping for more than fifth place but had to work hard to pass Lewis Hamilton after a poor start: “It was very difficult to overtake, the lesson is that qualifying will be even more important than we thought. It always is, but I had one opportunity, and I managed to take it.”

“It’s a shame we lost those positions at the start because it made the race more difficult. The positive is that the performance looks quite good, now we need to find the pace in qualifying to be ahead tomorrow.”