It was a case of mixed fortunes for Scuderia Ferrari in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit: on the plus side, Carlos Sainz produced his best qualifying performance of the season to put himself alongside Max Verstappen on the front row, when the race gets underway at 15 CET tomorrow. However, Charles experienced severe difficulties which saw him eliminated in Q1 and will start from the back of the grid.
Q1. There were a few drops of rain at the start, but all the drivers went out on Soft tyres. Carlos made it through to the next phase comfortably on his first run, but Charles struggled badly enough to pit for a set of new Softs. It was not enough and Charles was still in difficulty with his SF-23 and posted a time of 1’14”079. He was out in 19th spot.
Q3. Carlos made it to the final phase without too much trouble although, in common with seven of the ten remaining runners, he only had one set of new Soft tyres. He therefore went out for a sighting run on a set of used tyres as the track was evolving continuously, his time good enough for a provisional fourth place. On his new set, he gave it his all to set a great time of 1’12”734, to go second quickest, his best ever performance in Barcelona.
Long race. The Scuderia drivers face a long race, each of them with different challenges, racing in a field where all the drivers are very closely matched, with the exception of the reigning World Champion. Carlos will be aiming for his first podium of the season, while Charles will be attempting to move up from the back of the grid, trying to bring home as many points as possible.
Carlos Sainz #55
I’m happy with my qualifying today. The conditions were not at all easy out there, but we managed to put together some good laps and I think we extracted everything from the car. I left nothing on the table this afternoon.
However, the weekend is not done and now we need to execute the best race possible. The time gaps have all been very tight the entire weekend and it won't be an easy one but we will go for it.
I want to thank all the amazing support from the grandstands! It really makes a difference and I hope we can put on a good show tomorrow.
Charles Leclerc #16
We will have to check the car and look at the data as there was clearly something really odd about the way it behaved and it felt very different to the way it had throughout the weekend up to that point.
I basically had zero rear grip. The car was extremely oversteery and unpredictable. The car would be okay and suddenly it would snap away. It was something to do with the rear right corner. At first I thought it was something to do with my first set of tyres, so we changed for a new set, but there was still this very strange behaviour from the rear tyres.
It’s obviously very disappointing but it will be a long race tomorrow, overtaking is possible and degradation is a big factor so we will see, but of course we will be starting from very far back.
Frédéric Vasseur Team Principal
We had a very good result from Carlos and we are more than pleased for him. I think it is a good reward also for everyone working in Maranello as they pushed like hell to bring the all upgrades and the parts in time to Barcelona. It was quite challenging for them but I think it paid dividends today and, hopefully, also tomorrow in the race.
However it was not an easy qualifying for us as our other car will be at the back of the grid tomorrow. We are investigating Charles’ problem: he was complaining a lot about the car in the left hand corners. It’s a shame and it shows how close qualifying is now between the teams. In the past, two or three top teams could get through Q2 on the Medium tyre, but that’s no longer possible as the gaps are so tight and the slightest issue, like the one Charles had today, and you are out.
Overall, I think we have made a step forward, but it’s tomorrow that counts and we have to target the podium with Carlos. As for Charles, I’m not sure Barcelona is the easiest place to overtake but maybe the new layout will help and he will be able to fight for points tomorrow.