Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. put in another exceptional performance for an impressively quick Scuderia Ferrari team on Saturday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, lining up in second and third places respectively. Leclerc is confident in his abilities, and will be hoping to overtake pole-sitter, Sergio Perez, in the race to take victory in Saudi Arabia.
“It is disappointing to miss pole position today because I know that I put in a great lap. The risk Checo (Perez) took in the last sector paid off and his lap was exceptional. Congratulations to him for a job well done,” the Monégasque claimed.
“On our side, there is plenty to learn from this qualifying. We were quicker on used tyres than we were on new ones and we have to understand why that was, so that we can put them in a better window next time.“
“We were quick in our race simulation this morning and I feel confident for tomorrow. A race in warm conditions, taking place at night, on a very fast and narrow street circuit – it should be an exciting one.”
Sainz – “Maybe I should have also done my second push on Q3 on used tyres“
Sainz seemed rather deflated when climbing out of the car in third, after putting his car on provisional pole at the start of Qualifying 3; but quickly explained that he didn’t feel as strong on new tyres – “It was a good quali overall, putting good laps together every time we went out. Interestingly enough, I’ve been fast and more comfortable on a used set of softs than on the new set, so maybe I should have also done my second push on Q3 on used tyres. We’ll look into that for sure.“
“In any case, the feeling with the car has been better so far this weekend and we’ll keep digging into the data to extract the maximum out of the car.“
“Now we have to focus on tomorrow. Of course, the target will be to bring the pace of today’s quali into the race. We have saved several sets to give us different strategic options in case the race gets tricky as it did last year, so we’ll try to make everything work. Let’s race.”
Ferrari will be hoping to extend their constructors championship lead with another one-two finish tomorrow, and are certainly in a strong enough position for this to be a possibility. However, Oracle Red Bull Racing have a lot of pace and will not make it easy on Sunday evening.
