“It was a very good qualifying for us with each vehicles within the prime 3,” it stated Ferrari-Crew boss Fred Vasseur happy on the microphone of Sky Germany. There may even have been a bit of extra: “In fact it was additionally irritating with solely 4 hundredths behind Max [Verstappen, Anm. d. Red.]” Really missed Charles Leclerc his second pole of the season simply razor-thin. Carlos Sainz rounded off the sturdy weekend begin of the Scuderia in third place Austrian GP in Spielberg. And but there was no euphoria at Ferrari on Friday, as a result of Maranello nonetheless has to attend for the day of fact.
“Crucial factor for us is to verify that on Sunday,” Vasseur stated. His drivers went together with him. “We’re near pole, which is an efficient signal. However everyone knows that our weak point is the race. We’re all awaiting the race to see if we are able to verify the optimistic indicators from Montreal,” he stated Charles Leclerc already has a have a look at Sunday. Carlos Sainz additionally agreed with the Sunday canon: “Now we have to attend till the race to see the actual progress, as a result of we all know that our issues lie there.”
Ferrari had been strong a few times in qualifying in 2023. In the race, you usually go backwards with high tire wear. Vasseur is aware of this: “Sunday is a completely different story. It’s difficult to know where we are in the long run. At least Montreal was quite good there. We have to focus on ourselves and improve step by step.” In particular, the sprint format with only one training session prevented Ferrari and the other teams from gaining much insight into the long runs.
Ferrari drivers: Victory, like last year, very unlikely
The fight against Red Bull seems almost impossible. But last year Leclerc beat Verstappen and the Ferrari was faster than the Red Bull on Sunday, contrary to the general trend. Does that give hope? When asked by Motorsport-Magazin.com, Leclerc rebuffed: “Even back then, there were signs on Sunday that Red Bull was stronger in the race. But the difference was much smaller then than this year. It was a much larger extent this year. I would be So very surprised if we could have a race as good as last year. We will give everything for it, but it would be a big surprise if we were as good as last year in terms of pace.”
Sainz couldn’t imagine Ferrari being able to seriously challenge the red bulls either: “It’s true that we put pressure on Max last year and beat him in the end. But it’s a different year and car, they’ve gotten a lot stronger since then. I think Austria last year was their last weaker race. Since then they’ve been amazing so it’s going to be very difficult to fight against them.”
Ferrari updates: The quest for consistency
However, to make this possible again in the future, the team in Maranello is working at full speed on the SF-23. In Spielberg came a new front wing and a new underbody. Sainz was very grateful for that: “I’ve felt good since practice. That’s a good sign. It looks like we’re getting into a better rhythm as the season progresses. That was a good qualifying session and a good lap. Of course “You can always find something looking back, but we can be proud of our progress as a team. They’ve gone to great lengths to bring an update here that shouldn’t be ready yet. That certainly helped us today.”
The Spaniard was also able to name what has improved: “We can do it better in the high-speed corners, we had big problems there in Barcelona. We have more confidence and a more consistent car.” Leclerc also has a longing for consistency. The Monegasque recalls that the red goddess has been more of a red diva so far: “Some weekends we were good with the medium tire and then we had problems with the soft or the hard. Sometimes it was the other way around. We have in this one didn’t bring consistency in the first part of the season.”
Before the eagerly awaited day of the answers comes, the Ferraris still have to complete the sprint on Saturday. Can a conclusion about the Grand Prix be drawn in the sprint? The weather speaks against it for Leclerc: “Tomorrow it will rain, we can’t learn much from that.” His boss, on the other hand, no longer knew what to believe: “I can no longer trust the weather report. We will do that tomorrow before qualifying [gemeint ist das Sprint-Shootout, Anm. d. Red.] We’ll see.” Rain was also forecast for Friday and it stayed dry. In the end, it probably doesn’t matter how the sprint ends. Ferrari will only be able to draw a conclusion after the Grand Prix.
Source link
USASports – #Method #Ferrari #warns #sturdy #qualification #wait #Sunday
Printed : 2023-06-30 19:10:00
