The brilliant performance from FP1 was not repeated during Sprint Qualifying in Qatar: Ferrari didn’t intimidate McLaren, and Fred Vasseur explains the main factor causing the struggles, which the team will try to mitigate throughout the weekend.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, the team principal of the Italian team described the Shootout Qualifying experience from the Maranello pit. The two Ferrari drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, only managed fourth and fifth place in the third session on Friday evening.
The precise factor that hindered the two Ferrari drivers during Sprint Qualifying was understeer. The SF-24 cars were quite exposed to this issue, which limited the performance of the red team’s drivers. “We didn’t expect it to be this much,” Fred Vasseur revealed.
Ferrari: the night comes and… understeer
The SF-24 changed drastically as temperatures dropped. In the mild conditions of Free Practice 1, the Ferrari seemed on par with McLaren, but this was not the case in Sprint Qualifying. “We had a much better car during Free Practice 1, then we suffered a lot of understeer in qualifying. We struggled a lot and lost a lot of time because of that,” said Fred Vasseur. “If we want to be positive, we can think that most of the points are awarded on Sunday. We need to react and be ready for qualifying for the GP.”
The difficult qualifying session led the team to consider some setup changes for the SF-24s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz: “It’s true, we were in a much better position in FP1. Will we change the setup for qualifying and the race? Yes, the parc fermé is in effect until the Sprint, then it will be open and we can change the setup.”
In conclusion, Frederic Vasseur expressed his doubts about the uncertainty of graining. However, this phenomenon should not have a major impact on the Sprint Race. “Confidence in the pace for the sprint? Graining issue? It’s hard to say, no one has done a proper long run. The sprint will be a bit earlier in the afternoon, which will reduce the graining. We should be less exposed to graining in the Sprint compared to what happened in Shootout Qualifying.” – the French manager concluded.
