After the qualifying session, Ferrari ended up in fifth and seventh positions. It was a tight qualifying, where, in addition to George Russell’s Mercedes (second), Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull (pole position) was also involved. The first of the Ferraris, Charles Leclerc’s, was three-tenths from pole, but the McLarens were right ahead in the second row.
“We are one-tenth behind McLaren. We tried to extract the best from the setup between the sprint and qualifying, but what made the difference was tire preparation during the single lap,” Fred Vasseur stated after qualifying.
At Ferrari, they decided to keep the experimental floor on Charles Leclerc’s car after the feedback from free practice and part of the sprint weekend. In Qatar, Ferrari found themselves with an update that was not entirely planned before Losail, but using it in official sessions carried significant risks.
In Losail, Ferrari had only one unit of the new floor available.
Having a potential aerodynamic upgrade is what happened in Qatar for Ferrari. On Charles Leclerc’s car, they decided to run the entire weekend with the floor that had been defined as “experimental” at Maranello. This specification could be called “disposable,” produced thanks to the remaining season budget, still far from the maximum spending limit allowed by the FIA.
At Ferrari, there has traditionally been equality in the supply of updates to Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. To this end, Maranello always decided on new parts, bringing at least three units to the track in the case of a new floor: two for the drivers, and one spare in case of need. This strict practice was interrupted by the exceptional situation that occurred in Qatar. The floor was produced in a single unit for Las Vegas. According to what AutoRacer learned in Qatar, there are no other spares available in case of damage. The technical approach desired by Frederic Vasseur and aerodynamicist Diego Tondi was to leave nothing to chance in the pursuit of McLaren for the constructors’ championship.
Ferrari put all the chips on the table to compete with McLaren. The risk was called “park fermé.”
Every gamble comes with the risk of losing everything. The risk Ferrari faced in Losail was primarily linked to the park fermé rules. With Charles Leclerc, Ferrari made a “dangerous” move, but one that was aware and calculated. “We have to play it until the end,” made clear team principal Frederic Vasseur. With only one unit of the new floor available, if it were damaged during qualifying, it would not have been possible to replace the major component with an identical one or carry out any repairs.
Breaking article 40.2 of the sporting regulations, which meticulously describes the implementation of park fermé seals, allows no room for interpretation. The rule stipulates that, once the car leaves the pits during qualifying, it cannot be touched. The few exceptions are related to adjustments of the front wing angle, cleaning, and actions related to car safety. Bodywork repairs are allowed but not full replacements, such as in the case of a floor of a different specification. The consequences would have been dramatic if Leclerc’s floor had been damaged: breaking park fermé would have meant a pit-lane start for the Monegasque on Sunday. A similar incident happened recently at Mercedes, with George Russell’s crash in Q3 in Austin, which forced the team to fit older sidepods due to a lack of spares, and forced the Brit to start from the pit lane.
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