Starting fifth on the grid but with a bitter taste in the mouth. As Frederic Vasseur emphasized at the end of the Sprint qualifying session, this Friday’s on-track action leaves mixed feelings even for Carlos Sainz, because there was a feeling of being able to do more.
The third and fourth rows certainly don’t put the Red Team in the best position for tomorrow’s China sprint race, although there are more encouraging signs for Sunday’s race, which is expected to be dry.
The transition from dry to wet conditions is precisely what Carlos Sainz wanted to focus on at the end of qualifying, emphasizing the difficulties in getting the intermediates up to temperature, concluding with a deficit of over two seconds from the pole obtained by Lando Norris, but this halves taking Lewis Hamilton as a reference.
“It was a fluctuating session. We did better in SQ1 and SQ2, then the rain arrived in SQ3, and we couldn’t get the tires up to temperature. Especially, I struggled a lot with the rear, losing temperature and not being able to get the tires back in the right window. We are three seconds off the pole, and this means that either you manage to heat up the tires or you fall behind. We struggled a lot, so if it’s wet tomorrow, we’ll have to find a solution, while if it’s dry, we’ll be less in trouble,” explained the Spaniard in an interview in front of the Sky Italia microphones after the Sprint qualifying session.
Given the uncertainty of the weather, many drivers immediately went down to the pit lane waiting for the green light. This clearly cooled the tires, putting the drivers in difficulty on the out lap, like Charles Leclerc, who ended up hitting the wall in the second sector. “With the intermediate, we waited a long time at the pit lane exit, the tire cooled down, and Charles and I struggled a lot on the out lap to warm it up again. I think he spun or had an accident, and I’m lucky not to have had the same problem. We suffered a lot from the temperatures and couldn’t make a good SQ3. Despite this, I think I saved the day with the fifth position. And from there, we’ll see tomorrow.”
Another aspect to consider is the wind, which indeed blew at 15 km/h at the beginning of FP1: with such sensitive cars as the current ones, it’s easy to lose grip, especially if it blows from behind at critical traction points, like exiting turn 10. Similarly, other areas of the track have proven to be very critical, such as the last corner, where many drivers exceeded track limits.
“The wind blows very strongly here. There are curves where the grip isn’t bad, but in others, where the wind blows from behind and with these aerodynamically sensitive cars, there are curves where the car has no grip at all. If you add to this the wet asphalt and the intermediate tire, for example, the last corner was almost impossible to stay on track. It’s a very difficult track, but as I said, I think we saved the day with the fifth place.” – the Spaniard pointed out.
One of the new features this year is that the parc fermé can be opened after the sprint race, allowing engineers and drivers to make changes. Carlos Sainz already has some changes in mind to improve the car for the race: “What will happen tomorrow? The sprint race in the morning, then the parc fermé will be opened, and we can change the car? I would like to make a couple of changes to the car after the sprint race because I don’t feel comfortable. I have a couple of ideas to improve the car for qualifying. In the sprint race, we’ll have to survive with what we have and fight from fifth place.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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