The first step was in the right direction. For Ferrari, the Las Vegas weekend represents an important opportunity to significantly reduce the 36 points separating them from McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship standings. This scenario was expected before the weekend and even more so after the outcome of qualifying, which confirmed the two ‘reds’ ahead of the ‘papayas’. As hoped, Carlos Sainz (second) and Charles Leclerc (fourth) will start ahead of the Lando Norris – Oscar Piastri duo, who qualified sixth and eighth.
For the Scuderia, placing both cars in the top four was far from a given. A helping hand came from Lewis Hamilton’s harakiri, but otherwise, Ferrari showed stronger performance on a single lap than even Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull. The feared tire warm-up issues were contained, and when it comes to getting the tires into the right temperature window, Carlos Sainz takes charge. “It was one of the most difficult Saturdays of the season,” Carlos commented. “But we can say we did a good job. Obviously, I would have preferred to be on pole, but Mercedes has been very fast all weekend on a single lap.”
In Ferrari’s Friday night review, it was Charles Leclerc’s sharp edge that was missing. Charles was fortunate to see Pierre Gasly slip into the three-tenths gap that separated him from Carlos Sainz, securing him a spot in the second row, which leaves nothing to preclude a strong race tomorrow. “It wasn’t a great qualifying for me,” Charles admitted. “We had quite a few difficulties with grip, we couldn’t get the tires into the right operating window, and we will need to analyze this situation. But I don’t expect this issue to resurface during the race.”
“Being second and fourth on the grid is positive for the race ahead,” confirmed Frederic Vasseur. “Especially considering we struggled with the single lap and had difficulty getting the tires to temperature. It’s true that Charles perhaps expected to do better, but he had more trouble than Carlos with tire preparation.”
Ferrari’s focus is on the Constructors’ Championship, and although Mercedes is not a direct rival, to maximize their points haul, they will need to leave Russell behind as well. The challenge with McLaren seems within reach, as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri confirmed difficulties managing their cars in low-grip conditions, and after qualifying, Lando didn’t hide his disappointment, even using a fair bit of sarcasm. “Well, it’s incredible what happened today considering we have by far the fastest car, right? Maybe the water in the tires didn’t work or something like that?” Then Lando analyzed what happened.
“Let’s forget about the rear wing and everything else, we know well that our car doesn’t adapt well to very low-grip conditions like those here in Las Vegas. To be fast, we have to push everything to the limit, but it’s not easy. It’s a challenge, because you fix one problem and another one pops up. Maybe it wasn’t our best Q3, I made a couple of small mistakes, but they are mistakes that are very hard to avoid. It was just too difficult to do a clean lap, I’m trying to go faster, but at the same time, I’m trying not to make mistakes.”
McLaren will have to defend their position for fifty laps tomorrow, which gives Ferrari an important opportunity. The long runs completed on Thursday by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc with medium tires were encouraging, and while the hard tire remains an unknown, it’s a shared question among all the drivers on the grid since no one has used it during the three free practice sessions. McLaren hopes the harder compound will prove to be an ally, but it may be too late to recover lost ground.
“We have to focus on ourselves and the race,” explained Fred Vasseur. “I think there will be many overtaking opportunities. Last year, this was the Grand Prix with the most position changes. For most of the season, we’ve had a car with better race pace than qualifying pace, and our pace yesterday in the long runs during free practice was competitive. The most important thing in the Grand Prix will be tire management, especially controlling the graining. We must be careful not to push too hard at the start and preserve the tires to have more strategic options available.”
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc know that a lot will depend on the start and the first corner, but everything seems to be set up in the best way. The sixth win of the season, which could boost Ferrari’s chances in the Constructors’ Championship, seems within reach.
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