Scuderia Ferrari HP picked up 20 valuable points across the two races of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix round at the Jose Carlos Pace circuit in what proved to be a pretty tough weekend for the team. There were ten points yesterday with a third place for Charles and a fifth for Carlos. Then, at the end of a very demanding Sunday, which began at dawn with qualifying, came a further ten points courtesy of the Monegasque’s hard fought fifth place. It was a day to forget for Carlos Sainz, who crashed into the barriers both in Q2 this morning and again on lap 39 of the race, when fighting for position outside the points. It means the Maranello squad is still second, now 36 points behind the leaders McLaren in the Constructors’.
Rain and problems. Switching qualifying to this morning called for an unusual timetable, with the team up before dawn, leaving the hotel to be ready to take to the track for Q1 at 7.30. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that the SF-24’s pace on both Wets and Intermediates was not a match for its rivals. Charles qualified sixth, while Carlos crashed at turn 3 in Q2, causing substantial damage to his car. The mechanics did a brilliant job of getting it repaired in the short time available, also fitting a new Power Unit and gearbox, thus opting for a pit lane start.
The race. Off the line, Charles managed to pass Liam Lawson to go fifth, but once again the SF-24’s pace on Intermediates meant he was unable to attack as hard as he would have liked. He was stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon, so he made his stop first, on lap 24 to try to be able to run in clean air. Unfortunately, he rejoined in traffic and thus dropped to seventh just as the Safety Car was deployed because of the intensity of the rain, before it was red flagged following Franco Colapinto’s crash. From the pit lane, Carlos was soon up to 13th, but from then on, he suffered from the same difficulties as his team-mate on the Intermediates. After which, his race ended in the worst possible way, after he lost control of the SF-24, crashing into the barriers at turn 8 on lap 39, while he had been fighting with Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton for a points finish.
A combative Charles. Carlos’ incident brought out the Safety Car and after the restart, Leclerc excelled himself, attacking both Lando Norris and George Russell at turn 1, going up to fourth behind the leading trio of Max Verstappen and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. However, after that, Charles again lacked pace and Russell in the Mercedes claimed back fourth place. Towards the end, Leclerc felt more comfortable with the car and fended off Norris in the McLaren, fighting tooth and nail, and as the track condition improved, pulled away to bring home the ten points for fifth place.
A short pause before the final rush. Overnight and tomorrow, the team heads back to Maranello to begin preparing for the final three races of the season, once again in the form of a triple-header, with the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles yet to be decided.
Charles Leclerc #16
It was a very long and tricky race and the drivers on the podium today are those who did not put a foot wrong, so they really deserve it.I have mixed feelings about our race. On the one hand, it was a bit disappointing because we struggled to keep the car on track in these conditions, especially towards the end of the race, due to the way that we decided to set up our car for today. On the other hand, we finished ahead of both McLarens, which was a positive surprise and helps in our battle in the Constructors’ championship.We are heading home now to recharge for the final triple-header of this season where we will give it our all to try and secure the team championship title.
Carlos Sainz #55
Definitely a Sunday to forget for me. I’m sorry to have given the team extra work on a day that was already super long. I’ve struggled with this car in the wet this year, and today I just didn’t have the right feeling either. I tried to push and take some risks to gain positions and it obviously didn’t pay off.It’s a hard Sunday to digest but we will turn the page and reset everything ahead of Las Vegas.
Fred Vasseur - Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP
We have mixed feelings today as we were able to limit the damage in our fight with McLaren, but on the other hand, we should have also scored points with Carlos, not just with Charles.With both drivers the timing of pit stops was not the best but in general we struggled a lot with the pace and in getting the tyres to the right temperatures after every restart. At the final restart, Charles did very well to get ahead of Lando (Norris) and George (Russell) but the Mercedes was able to get past again and Charles had to defend from Lando. As the stint progressed his tyres were performing better and he was able to bring home a P5.This weekend was a difficult one but looking at this triple-header as a whole, we are still the team that has scored the most points which is a good way to go into the final three races of the season. We will do our best to keep the fight open all the way to Abu Dhabi.