The provisional pole position for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix belonged to Charles Leclerc, who after being behind his teammate for the whole qualifying session did the usual magic and put together his best lap in the last attempt. With a more charged aerodynamic set-up than the Red Bull rivals, the Monegasque driver managed to make a difference in the first sector, the slower one, defending himself well in the second – not without risk, because “the wolf certainly does not lose its fur” due to one more wing load.
Not surprisingly, Charles – always very self-critical, never really happy – said he was satisfied with his final lap. It he is right to be so, because it was a last attempt to the limit, while showing exemplary precision in driving, a confidence which confirms that the F1-75 has found in him a worthy driver, and in his style a worthy conduct.
As pointed out by formu1a.uno, the low downforce configuration of Sergio Pérez’s Red Bull pays off in the first sector, where the Mexican lagged behind Charles Leclerc‘s Ferrari by almost two tenths – but he was almost even with a difference of about 20 thousandths in the second sector, and then recovers big on the long straights of the third sector.
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In the end, there are only 25 thousandths between the two – but 25 thousandths is enough to make a difference. This is not an abyss, and therefore does not worry Ferrari, which is convinced that it will be able to be more incisive tomorrow in terms of race pace; it is, however, a beautiful photograph of the seasonal battle that begins to take shape between Ferrari and the two Red Bulls – with Mercedes (now sixteenth with Hamilton, excluded in Q1) which for now does not seem ready to join the fight.
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