After yesterday, the final qualifying of the season did not look like being easy for Scuderia Ferrari HP and today, despite a strong showing from Carlos Sainz, there was good reason to have regrets. The Spaniard produced a solid performance and, as has happened a few times this season, the smallest of margins, 20 thousandths today, kept him off the front row. For Charles Leclerc it was a case of centimetres rather than thousandths that worked against him. After the ten place grid penalty imposed for requiring a third battery pack in Friday’s first practice session, he was hoping to do well in Q3 to be able to start in the midfield, but his best lap in Q2 was deleted for exceeding track limits and thus he didn’t make the cut to the final part and will therefore start last.
Q2. Qualifying was very closely contested as usual and Carlos and Charles made it to Q2 without too much trouble, opting to go for a first run on the Softs used in Q1. The Spaniard set a good 1’23”516, but the Monegasque only managed a 1’23”833, having oversteered in turn 14. They both then went for a second run on new Softs, Carlos getting through easily with a 1’22”985. Charles also looked safe with a 1’22”980 but, as mentioned earlier his lap was deleted.
Q3. In the final shoot-out Carlos again started with used Softs before pitting for new ones. He did a good job of preparing his tyres and risked everything in order to set a time of 1’22”824, just 20 thousandths of a second slower than second placed Oscar Piastri. Carlos therefore starts on the clean side of the track and should be able to do well in his final race with Ferrari.
Strategy. With little or nothing to lose, the team will go through all the data tonight to ensure that Carlos and even more so in Charles’s case, can go on the attack, given that winning the race that starts at 17 local (14 CET) over 58 laps, is the best way the team can beat McLaren to the Constructors’ title. With Charles, the team can explore different strategies with the aim of putting him in clean air to make the most of the SF-24’s potential. The team is in good spirits and ready to go on the attack to end the season.
Carlos Sainz #55
We did a good job on the car after yesterday and today in Q1 and Q2 I was able to put together some solid laps. In Q3 I pushed like crazy on the last attempt and I think my lap was good, only hundredths of a second away from P2. Anyway, starting P2 or P3 doesn’t make a huge difference here as the race is very long and I have confidence in our pace.Races have to be raced until the very last metre, so believe me when I say I will drive my heart out to try to win and let’s see what happens. Nothing would make me happier than finishing with Ferrari on a high, so let’s go for it one more time!
Charles Leclerc #16
My goal remains the same: to win the Constructors’ Championship. I believe in it as much as I did yesterday. It’s ambitious, but it’s still possible on paper and I will fight for it until the very last lap.In terms of qualifying, I don’t think we would have managed to beat the two McLarens. However, with my lap time deleted, P14 added to our 10 place grid penalty will make this a really challenging goal to achieve. Our race pace is okay but McLaren seem to be stronger. We changed our car quite a bit since FP3, and I believe we went in the right direction. Our tyre degradation seems better than that of some of the others, so I hope this can give us some advantage. Anything can happen tomorrow and we will give it absolutely everything.
Fred Vasseur - Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP
Tomorrow we will fight until the last corner and at least we have Carlos on the second row. He did a very good job and there is not a big difference starting P3 or P2 tomorrow as the right hand side is probably a bit better. I think we can fight the McLarens and at least try and win this race. It would be a good way to end the year on a positive note.
Of course, for Charles it will be a more difficult race, starting from the back. Anyway, the best he could have done would have been to start P11. We will evaluate what to do with his power unit and will think about a strategy that avoids him being in the pack and allows him to run more in clean air. As for the title, before this weekend, on paper it was very difficult, after the penalty it became mega difficult but not impossible, as you never know what could happen.