Qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix was very close and exciting, the outcome decided by just thousandths of a second, which did not go in favour of Scuderia Ferrari HP. Tomorrow, Charles Leclerc will start from fifth place, which could have easily been third, while Carlos Sainz starts seventh, a whisker off a place on the third row. It’s clearly going to be a very closely contested race and from what was seen in this afternoon’s Sprint, in which Carlos and Charles finished fourth and fifth respectively, the SF-24 has the potential to be a contender over the 57 laps when the lights go out tomorrow at 19 local (17 CET).
Sprint. Track action began with the Sprint at 17.00 and the 19 lap race was rather dull, with the first six cars all in a DRS train. The McLarens finished first and second, thus extending their lead in the Constructors’ championship to 30 points. Leclerc was one of the few to actually make an overtaking move, after he had been blocked in off the line, passed by Hamilton, but he retook the position at two thirds distance to finish fifth behind his team-mate.
Qualifying. Qualifying got underway at 21.00 and it was one of the most closely contested of the season, providing a great show. Charles and Carlos made it through to Q3 comfortably and then had two sets of new Softs available. On his first run Leclerc posted a 1’20”885, while Sainz stopped the clocks in 1’21”042. They then both improved, but not by much: Charles got down to 1’20”852 to claim fifth place, 80 thousandths slower than Lando Norris in third and 23 down on fourth placed Oscar Piastri. Carlos shaved a thousandth off his previous time to claim seventh spot, 30 thousandths down on sixth placed Hamilton.
Race. Those few thousandths are weighing heavily on the hopes of Scuderia Ferrari HP to keep the championship fight going to Abu Dhabi, especially as overtaking is not easy at Lusail. The Sprint race showed that the only viable passing place is Turn 1. A good strategy will be needed to try and get ahead of our title rivals who at least are not starting from the front row, being just ahead of Charles, so they will unable to dictate the pace as they did in the Sprint. If Charles and Carlos start well then there might be strategic options to reverse the order of qualifying and from what we have seen so far, the potential to do so is there.
Charles Leclerc #16
The Sprint Race confirmed that qualifying is crucial here. We had one opportunity to pass Lewis (Hamilton), but it was on the limit and one really has to take a risk to overtake on this track, especially as the DRS zone is short. P5 was the best we could do in qualifying. I am happy with my lap and there was just nothing more to extract from our car today. The two McLarens are right in front of us, so we will need a good race start and a solid few laps to try and pass one of them and then put pressure on the other. I am quite confident that the car will be stronger in the race, at the same time, I expect a difficult race. If we have the opportunity to show our pace in free air, we will do it.
Carlos Sainz #55
Today has proven again that this track is complicated for us. Milliseconds have separated us from a better result and a slipstream on the last run could have helped, but overall, it is what it is. However, I think our race pace is stronger and, even though overtaking here is far from easy, I’m confident we can fight for some solid points tomorrow! The weekend is not over, we need to stay fully focused during the race and be prepared to grab any opportunity.
Fred Vasseur - Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP
It was a tight qualifying in which we ended up behind our direct competitor McLaren by less than a tenth. For sure that’s a bit frustrating but now we must focus on the race. Unlike in today’s Sprint, in the Grand Prix, tyre degradation will be more of a factor and therefore we will be able to try and play a bit with the strategy, especially since overtaking here it’s definitely not easy unless you are able to create a good pace delta with the right choices during the race.I believe everything is still possible tomorrow but it will be important to be completely focused on our execution right from the start for both our drivers. Charles, Carlos and the whole team are very motivated and determined to do the best job possible. We will push until the end.