After the debacle at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal and the promising third free practice sessions, much more was expected from Ferrari in qualifying. However, the final result was quite disappointing, as the Maranello team had to concede to the superiority not only of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who produced two stellar laps, but also to the two Mercedes, which surprisingly outpaced both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz by a few thousandths, enough to edge both of them out.
Ferrari disappoints again in single-lap performance
The two Ferrari cars will therefore occupy the entire third row in tomorrow’s Grand Prix, with Frederic Vasseur analyzing what happened to Sky Sport: “We are a bit disappointed. Charles made a mistake in turn 5 and I think we lost an easy third position in that turn, but that’s part of the game. We are very close and need to push, mistakes happen like that in the end.”
Overall, though, the Frenchman said he was satisfied with what he saw: “I’m not a big fan of this type of circuit, but on the whole, we had a good qualifying. We need to put everything together for tomorrow, with the temperatures expected to be slightly lower. We hope that this will work in our favor. We hope to be able to come back against the leaders.”
Speaking in terms of the race, Fred Vasseur highlighted the set of soft tires saved with both drivers, unlike Mercedes: “We decided to save a set of tires for tomorrow. Mercedes didn’t do that and I think it will be an advantage for the first stint.” – he pointed out.
“I didn’t expect to be closer to McLaren. Others are bringing parts too, they’re not sleeping. Also, on this type of track, the impact of tire management is much bigger than the weight of the updates.”
“Clearly, having a couple of tenths more or less is always a nice boost, but in the end, we need to bring home results with what we have, run a good race, and bring home some points. We know that until the end of the season it will be like this, with ups and downs, with some weekends where we’ll be ahead and others where we’ll be in the third row.” – he added.
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“When we are in the third row, the goal will be to score as many points as possible. Clearly, when talking about scoring points, we always want to do better than the starting position and recover. There are still 15-16 races to go, so it’s important to score a lot of points every weekend.”
“We have a new set of tires. We have the pace, we can come back against the top two or at least try to overtake the two Mercedes and fight for the podium. And if you are third and fourth, you score more points than those who finished first and tenth.”
Finally, the French manager hopes that with lower temperatures, the SF24 can express more potential than today: “I think we will be in better conditions. At the beginning of qualifying, we were faster and the track was a bit cooler, and in the race, I think that’s the direction we’re headed.” – the Ferrari team principal concluded.
Source: f1ingenerale
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