No peak today
The second qualifying session of this Brazilian weekend did not go as well as the first for Charles Leclerc and Scuderia Ferrari. Yesterday, the Monegasque driver secured the front row for the Sunday’s Brazilian GP, only being outperformed in Q3 by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Today, in the format of the Sprint Shootout, car #16 could only manage seventh place in the decisive session, even being beaten by the surprising AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
It was a disappointing result, partly due to the choice of running SQ3 with used soft tires, despite Charles Leclerc still having a set of new soft tires available for the rest of the Interlagos weekend. Interviewed by Sky Sport F1 after the Sprint Shootout, the #16 from Maranello implied that he wasn’t too disappointed with the time recorded in the Brazilian morning, and that he and his team have a specific strategic plan in mind for the rest of the weekend.
A long-term strategy
“The lap was quite good,” Charles Leclerc commented, “and in these conditions, we struggled a bit with my setup. I believe it will be better for tomorrow, but there wasn’t much more to do today. Perhaps we could have fought with Tsunoda,” added the 2022 Vice World Champion at the end of the Sprint Shootout, “but we had used tires.”
“I don’t want to say too much about the strategic choice we made and why we wanted to use used soft tires, but it’s certainly helpful for the rest of the weekend. It compromises today a bit, but we will see in the end if it was the right choice,” he added. Scuderia Ferrari fans hope for the same, also to keep alive their hopes of a second-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship.
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