Charles Leclerc’s fourth place and Lewis Hamilton’s seventh are a true reflection of the current standings. Lando Norris’ mistake allowed Charles to keep his place in the second row, meeting the team’s expectations, but the less positive news for the Scuderia is that three different teams, Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes, are ahead.
“The margins are reduced,” says Frederic Vasseur on every occasion, which is true, but they are also consistent. Overall, Leclerc lost most of his final gap (0.376s from Max Verstappen, 0.366s from Oscar Piastri, and 0.263s from Norris) in the first sector of the Jeddah circuit, as pointed out by Frederic Vasseur. But it is also true that the top nine positions in the final standings match exactly with the top nine positions in the first sector, the most selective part of the track. This is where the difference needs to be made.
Charles Leclerc hoped for something more, especially after seeing Lando Norris’ McLaren crash into the barriers at turn 4, but in the end, he had to admit that realistically, going beyond fourth place was not possible. “I can’t be happy with a fourth place, but I’m happy with how I drove and the fact that I understood how to extract the car’s potential,” he commented. “Unfortunately, at the moment, this is the best we can achieve: we don’t have enough grip to enter some corners with the same speed as our competitors, we need to analyze this aspect.” The hope for the first podium of the season is still alive, but the impression is that more will be needed than what has been seen so far. “Looking ahead to tomorrow, I don’t expect miracles,” Leclerc commented, “but if we can get off to a good start, a podium position could also be within our reach.”
The race pace seen in Friday’s brief long-runs confirmed Ferrari as the third force (behind McLaren and Mercedes), but there is no data on performance degradation, as no one was able to complete more than ten laps due to the red flag caused by Yuki Tsunoda’s crash.
“It will be interesting to see what the race pace will be for both of our cars,” Frederic Vasseur emphasized. “No one has been able to do real long runs so far, but since the start of the season, we have shown to be more competitive in the race than on a single lap. We need to be ready to seize every opportunity the race will offer, as overtaking is possible on this track, and tonight we will focus on preparing for all the scenarios that could arise during the race.”
It may seem strange, since we’re talking about Hamilton, but the seventh-place finish was a better result than expected. After finishing FP3 in twelfth place, making it to Q3 was far from certain, then (with heavy breathing) the goal was achieved, with seven thousandths of an advantage over Alexander Albon. “Considering how much we struggled in free practice, I’d say today was a respectable qualifying,” Lewis commented. “Obviously, we’re not where we want to be, but I felt more comfortable in the car, and that means we’re heading in the right direction. My only lap in Q3 wasn’t great, but overtaking is possible here, so the goal for tomorrow is to make up ground.”
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