| door Shanna Lutgert
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz learned on Friday in Melbourne that the competition still has the upper hand, and Red Bull Racing in particular is a size too big. Nevertheless, the drivers feel that the Scuderia is moving in the right direction. Leclerc and Sainz were able to test a lot of settings, but decided not to continue that during the rainy session. Ferrari chose eggs for its money and prepared itself for Saturday.
Ferrari spent the free practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix with a busy schedule focused on the race pace, but she did not want to neglect the preparations for the qualification. It was a bit difficult to do a qualifying run anyway, as the track was busy, the first session had a GPS problem, and the second session literally and figuratively fell into the water. “We explored a lot of settings today, which was interesting because it felt like we were going in the right direction,” Leclerc said in a press release from the Italian team.
“However, that does not mean that we have the same pace as our competitors, as they still seem to have the upper hand for the time being,” continues the Monegask, who does not yet count Ferrari rich. “There is still a lot of work to be done before we can get back to a real fight, but we will put all our energy into making further steps forward,” said the 25-year-old. Ferrari suffered a disappointing one in Jeddah race pace and ultimately more tire degradation than expected, and she hopes to change that this weekend in Melbourne.
“Hopefully tomorrow we will be a little closer to the Red Bulls,” Leclerc continues. “I think it’s close in qualifying. But we’re going into the race a little bit blind, I think. Due to the rain, no one really did any runs with a lot of fuel in the car. Maybe we can see some long runs in FP3 and we can get more out of that’, suspects the Monegask. “Today’s changes were positive, but we have to remember that we had a really hard time in the last race. We’re not going to find that lap time overnight, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Sainz: ‘VT1 still useful for the team’
Leclerc’s Spanish teammate agrees with those words. Sainz thought it went reasonably well, despite the fact that the sessions were a bit chaotic. “This Friday was a bit compromised by the rain in FP2, so we decided not to do many laps in the rain, but to prepare everything for tomorrow,” said the 28-year-old. “On the other hand, FP1 was very helpful for the team. We went through very different configurations to improve the feeling with the car and to understand the current package a bit more,” continues the Spaniard.
“We’re doing everything we can to maximize everything and I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend.” Sainz also saw that it went better in terms of performance in Melbourne than in Jeddah, at least until now. In qualifying, the Madrilene expects to meet Red Bull in any case. “I think it’s fair to assume we’ll be playing with them in qualifying, but in the race we also have to assume we’re probably one step behind, just like in Jeddah, right?”
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