1-2 with a twist
This time, the free practices were not just an illusion. Ferrari, even in qualifying on a single lap, confirmed itself as the best car on the Las Vegas Strip. Charles Leclerc extended a weekend that has been perfect so far, while Carlos Sainz – second, just four hundredths behind his teammate in the night Q3 – still feels the bitterness of the ten-position grid penalty caused by the cursed drain cover during FP1. Now, the ambition for both is to confirm their performance in the race. Leclerc will chase his first seasonal victory, while Sainz aims for a comeback that could be crucial in the battle with Mercedes for the second place among Constructors.
“Overall, the result is very positive,” said Frederic Vasseur at the end of the session to Sky Sport F1. “Achieving a double in qualifying debut in Las Vegas is positive, but more than the pole, the beautiful thing is that we were ahead in every session. I believe this is good preparation for tomorrow’s race.”
The key topic of the moment, today as yesterday, is the penalty imposed by the stewards on Carlos Sainz. Fred Vasseur reiterated his opinion on the matter, but he urged everyone to move forward.
Fred Vasseur urges to look ahead
“We know that we will have Carlos’s penalty, and it’s a shame, but I think he also showed a very strong and consistent pace during the practices, so we can be optimistic. Certainly, I would have preferred to start 1st and 2nd rather than 1st and 12th,” commented the French manager, “but that’s the situation. The most important thing for the team is to stay focused on the race without talking too much about the penalty because it’s behind us now. We know it’s unfair, but we have to focus on the race.” – the French manager pointed out at the end of the qualifying session in Las Vegas.
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“We should discuss it with the FIA on Monday,” Fred Vasseur added, referring to the drain cover incident and the denied waiver for Ferrari, “but now I want to focus on the sporting aspect and the team’s performance. There will be time to discuss other topics later. Now, I’m focused on tomorrow. Qualifying is important, but it’s just a step, not the final result. We’ve done long and consistent stints in performance, and that’s why we need to focus on ourselves and the strategies. We know it will be a tough GP, with Safety Cars and so on, but we have to focus on our performance without thinking about others, hoping to do a good job. Tires? Today, the teams thought that it might be cold tomorrow, so there could be a graining issue, so they expect to use the hard tires more than the soft ones,” concluded the Ferrari team principal.
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