Ferrari failed to repeat last year’s feat, so the duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz can wait for the team’s home race, the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, from the fourth and fifth starting positions, respectively – despite the fact that the development package brought to Monza by the Maranello team was praised .
During the qualifying session, the fate of the pole position was decided by an extremely close fight – the Ferrari drivers were less than one and a half tenths of a second behind the lap of Lando Norris. After that, Leclerc gave a disappointed assessment of Saturday: “Yes, I am disappointed. Based on yesterday’s day, there was a prospect of a positive day, but in the end it turned out less well. Fourth place was the best we could do and it’s frustrating” – it quotes the words of Monaco F1.com.
Leclerc expressed his disappointment after his fourth starting place. (Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty Images)
“It’s good that, unlike last weekend, we are close to first place, but I don’t like to fight for such positions. But that’s not enough, so I hope we won’t be able to turn the job around by tomorrow” – continued Leclerc, who during the time trial kept complaining about the controllability of the SF-24. “In turns 1, 2, 4 and 5 I was so understeer all weekend, but it didn’t get any worse” he explained. “It was the same, and I think the others made progress where we didn’t, and we paid the price by finishing fourth instead of pole.”
Last year’s pole position holder, Carlos Sainz, did not have a smooth qualifying session either. The Spaniard admitted that he had similar problems to Leclerc, and in Q1 he also pinched the gravel bed at a steep moment.
“We were within a tenth of a second” – referred to the intensity of the battle. “That’s why it’s like we’re only that far behind. When the clouds arrived over the track in Q3, the temperature of the asphalt dropped a bit, so the car started to understeer. In the last two sectors, I couldn’t even turn to him. It’s a shame because I was fast in sector 1. I couldn’t find the balance in the car.”
Carlos Sainz stood in front of the journalists with bloodshot eyes at the end of Saturday. (Photo: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
Despite this, Sainz does not rule out the possibility of standing on the podium on Sunday, but he dreams of celebrating his 30th birthday with a victory. However, in addition to Ferrari’s understeering, something else made it difficult. “A mosquito or something flew into my eye in Q3. That’s why I had discomfort in my right eye during the whole stage” – he revealed.
Source: www.vezess.hu
