Charles Leclerc’s fourth place and Lewis Hamilton’s seventh are a real reflection of the present standings. Lando Norris’ mistake allowed Charles to maintain his place within the second row, assembly the crew’s expectations, however the much less constructive information for the Scuderia is that three totally different groups, Purple Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes, are forward.
“The margins are lowered,” says Frederic Vasseur every time, which is true, however they’re additionally constant. General, Leclerc misplaced most of his remaining hole (0.376s from Max Verstappen, 0.366s from Oscar Piastri, and 0.263s from Norris) within the first sector of the Jeddah circuit, as identified by Frederic Vasseur. However it is usually true that the highest 9 positions within the remaining standings match precisely with the highest 9 positions within the first sector, probably the most selective a part of the monitor. That is the place the distinction must be made.
Charles Leclerc hoped for one thing extra, particularly after seeing Lando Norris’ McLaren crash into the limitations at flip 4, however ultimately, he needed to admit that realistically, going past fourth place was not attainable. “I can’t be pleased with a fourth place, however I’m pleased with how I drove and the truth that I understood learn how to extract the automobile’s potential,” he commented. “Sadly, for the time being, that is the perfect we will obtain: we don’t have sufficient grip to enter some corners with the identical velocity as our rivals, we have to analyze this facet.” The hope for the primary podium of the season remains to be alive, however the impression is that extra can be wanted than what has been seen to date. “Waiting for tomorrow, I don’t anticipate miracles,” Leclerc commented, “but when we will get off to a very good begin, a podium place may be inside our attain.”
The race tempo seen in Friday’s temporary long-runs confirmed Ferrari because the third power (behind McLaren and Mercedes), however there is no such thing as a knowledge on efficiency degradation, as nobody was in a position to full greater than ten laps as a result of crimson flag attributable to Yuki Tsunoda’s crash.
“It is going to be attention-grabbing to see what the race tempo can be for each of our automobiles,” Frederic Vasseur emphasised. “Nobody has been in a position to do actual lengthy runs to date, however because the begin of the season, now we have proven to be extra aggressive within the race than on a single lap. We have to be able to seize each alternative the race will supply, as overtaking is feasible on this monitor, and tonight we are going to deal with getting ready for all of the situations that might come up in the course of the race.”
It could appear unusual, since we’re speaking about Hamilton, however the seventh-place end was a greater end result than anticipated. After ending FP3 in twelfth place, making it to Q3 was removed from sure, then (with heavy respiration) the aim was achieved, with seven thousandths of a bonus over Alexander Albon. “Contemplating how a lot we struggled in free apply, I’d say immediately was a decent qualifying,” Lewis commented. “Clearly, we’re not the place we need to be, however I felt extra snug within the automobile, and meaning we’re on track. My solely lap in Q3 wasn’t nice, however overtaking is feasible right here, so the aim for tomorrow is to make up floor.”
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