Ferrari Racing Director explains what made the difference in Imola qualifying. Ferrari Racing Director on Imola qualifying.

Damp, dry then really wet, with five red flags and particularlty low temperatures making it difficult to get the tyres into the ideal operating window. These were the conditions that turned qualifying for the 2022 Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix into a real lottery at the Imola circuit.

For Ferrari things did not go as planned and there is a lot of regret for the Maranello team, if we think about the potential of the F1-75 car, which could have secured a front low start for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Instead, in tomorrow’s Sprint race, the Monegasque driver will start from second on the grid, while Carlos Sainz will have to attempt a recovery race from P10, due to a crash in the second part of qualifying at Imola.

Ferrari Racing Director Laurent Mekies reflects on the outcome of the qualifying session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari:

“Even though the result of today’s qualifying did not quite go in our favour, I still want to thank the team here and back in Maranello, because we have started the weekend on the right foot and we were immediately competitive. Unfortunately, today, what made the difference was the timing of the red flags. If the fourth had come out a few seconds earlier, then pole would have gone to Charles, but that wasn’t to be, so it went to Max Verstappen. Charles’ second place is still a good result and tomorrow Carlos will have the opportunity to fight back after what happened in Q2. These things can happen and it’s easy to understand how frustrating this must have been for him, given the potential he had demonstrated earlier. There’s still a long way to go this weekend, so now we have to reset and focus on tomorrow and Sunday. The F1-75 is on the pace and we have all we need to do a good job. A positive aspect today was that the car was also competitive on both wet weather tyre compounds. We never had the opportunity to run in these conditions and that confirms we are on the right path. Tonight we will work to identify the areas in which we can improve, because as has been the case so far this season, the fight with our main rivals will go down to hundredths of a second and every factor can make the difference.” – Ferrari Racing Director Laurent Mekies explained, at the end of the qualifying session for the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.