Disappointing Sprint for Ferrari
Two points lost to Mercedes with hopes of making up for it tomorrow in the Grand Prix. Today, Ferrari didn’t shine in the Brazil Sprint, choosing not to use new soft tires in Q3 with the goal of having them fresh for one of the stints in tomorrow’s Grand Prix, where the hard compound is unlikely to be used.
Today, Charles Leclerc finished in fifth place, and Carlos Sainz in eighth, the last position that earns a point, which he managed to secure by defending against Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri. The Monegasque driver also had to deal with a significant engine overheating issue. Here is the analysis from Ferrari’s team principal, Frederic Vasseur.
Comments from Frederic Vasseur to Sky Sport microphones:
“Without a doubt, we focused more on the long race, and for tomorrow, we will have two sets of new medium tires and one of soft. I hope it will be an advantage, but we are trying to do our best, and we did that today with the used soft tires. We brought home some points, and, in my opinion, we had a good race. It’s a shame that we had to manage it because the engine was overheating, and it cost us one or two positions, but overall, it was a good race. We need to focus on ourselves; the difference is that AlphaTauri had a new set of soft tires, and we will have the same advantage in the race. We were in the same situation as Mercedes, and our tire management was better than theirs.” – the French manager pointed out at the end of the Sprint race in Brazil.
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“Tomorrow we will have to do the same stint, and we will probably have less tire degradation than Mercedes. The start, as always, will be crucial because it’s much easier to run with an empty track rather than having to fight in the middle of the group. When you push to compete in a group, you damage the rear tires in traction, so there will be an opportunity to have a good race with a clear and clean track. I think the sprint format is something positive for the fans because every session is crucial, and there are more opportunities to score points. From the teams’ and our perspective, it’s different because it depends a lot on the tire compounds and the number of tires we can use during the weekend. The hard tire is not a racing tire, and this means that we have to manage the soft and medium tires as best as possible, which has led to some choices that can be frustrating, but it’s the same for everyone. We focused on tomorrow’s race; it was a tough choice, but I hope it can bring benefits.” – the Ferrari team principal concluded.
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