Ferrari 'comes back to reality' after Qatar sprint qualifying

The sprint ranking of Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix 2024 finished with a first position for Lando Norriswho beat George Russell, Oscar Piastri and especially to Charles Leclerc And Carlos Sainzwith whom the constructors' title is played out during the last two rounds of the season. The Maranello duo saw that their main opponent had the better record, and they will have to go on the attack on Saturday if they want to recover points to win the final prize.

The Spaniard explained why he was only able to complete one lap at the end of the final round, and He said he had problems with the balance of the car, particularly with understeer.and that he couldn't take too many risks on the piano. Additionally, he added that he aborted the first few turns because he had to Max Verstappen in front and the dirty air was affecting him.

“We did not maximize our package,” said the Madrilenian. “Even though the lap was clean, there was a lot of understeer in the car. I couldn't get the car to turn the whole lap, it was also a difficult corner because it was my only chance “I'm not risking too much with the track limits as I lost the previous attempt, I just had to make sure I got a lap.

“Unfortunately we found ourselves in a situation where I entered the first and second sector with Max [Verstappen] in front, and he was preparing his tires, so he had a lot of dirty air,” he said. “Also, the balance of the car was not good, we had a lot of understeer with the Soft tires, which meant we had trouble turning. I had to cool the tires for a few laps and when I came back the understeer was still there, but I had to get one lap in, and that was enough to finish fourth.”

His partner said that the discreet delivery of Ferrari was “back to reality” after securing fourth and fifth places on the sprint race grid. Charles Leclerc found himself overtaken by Carlos Sainz, and believes that his positions are more representative of his real pace, even if he is disappointed not to have capitalized on the hopes of free practice: “It's not good because that when you give everything and you're only fourth and fifth, it's not great, considering how important this weekend is for us.”

“However, let's say that, for some reason, the first free practice sessions were way above our expectations. [clasificación al sprint] I would say it's in line with what we expected, so we're getting back to reality,” he said. “Obviously after practice we were hoping we could do something better, but we didn't We didn't do it.”

“If we look at the free ones, clearly yes [la victoria al sprint es posible]if you look at the rankings, no. At the moment the most representative thing is the classification, so we are not in the best position, but you never know, it's always different on race day,” he said.

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