Charles Leclerc was pleased to recover points in F1 Qatar GP as Carlos Sainz lamented puncture, while Frederic Vasseur notes strategy was to go long in the first stint.
Ferrari came in F1 Qatar GP weekend on the backfoot knowing that the circuit won’t suit them. They were prepared to score less than McLaren, but at the end of it, they managed to cut down the lead by three points heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi GP this weekend.
The tables turned after Lando Norris was handed a penalty which left him to score just the two points. Oscar Piastri did the heavy scoring in third, but Leclerc outdid him in second. The Monegasque did pass him at the start, but the Australian managed to get through him at ease.
The strategy then made the difference as Piastri pitted a lap before the safety car was deployed, which allowed Leclerc to retake the track position. The Monegasque then settled in second to score crucial points, where he was driving without the drinks bottle working for the second Qatar GP in a row.
Sainz was pleased with sixth despite not passing a Alpine of Pierre Gasly for fifth. The reason for his satisfaction was the puncture he suffered which could have dropped him to outside of points. He was stuck off due to the timing of the safety car too, which was deployed a lap after his stop.
He had some damage which somewhat hampered him from passing Gasly, who had good straightline speed. Even though there was a puncture due to debris and tyre wear, team boss Vasseur revealed that Ferrari had planned for going long in the first stint which was cut short in the end.
Race, result –
Leclerc: “Yes, we did [exceed our expectation]. Yes, we did, because to be honest, we knew that it would be very difficult pace-wise. We expected McLaren to be very strong in terms of race pace. We maybe did not expect Max to be that strong, but he was super strong today. However, finishing second after such a weekend, where the track characteristics are very far off from the optimal of the track characteristics we need for our car, is a surprise. We got a little bit lucky, obviously on my side. A bit unlucky with Carlos and his puncture. But as a team, it’s been a positive weekend. So yes, we exceeded our expectations because coming into the weekend, I kind of expected to lose a bit of points compared to McLaren here. However, we recovered some, so that’s good.”
Sainz: “I think we couldn’t have got it worse, you know, we had a puncture pretty much coming out of the last corner or around the last sector, then it meant I needed to do a full lap on a punctured tyre, using a lot of race time, then we had a slow pit stop during that slow puncture, and then as soon as I came out of the pits they put the Safety Car out. So everyone can take their stop, and I’ve lost a lot of time with the puncture and the pit stop under racing conditions, and then a Safety Car comes out exactly while I’m exiting the pit, so couldn’t have been any worse. I started P6, I finished P6 with everything that happened, and I had to race probably with some damage in the car for the rest of the race.
“Yeah, a bit of a nightmare day, and bringing home a P6 maybe is not as terrible as it now feels, but yeah, at least the other car could get maximum points available for Charles, and I think it’s damage limitation with everything that happened. We managed to being the fight to the next race. At the same time, on my side of the garage, we probably lost…we could have finished maybe P4 or P3, depending on the race scenario. So, we lost their four points that might be crucial for the end of the championship.”
Vasseur: “We would have signed before for this, we scored more points than McLaren, we are still alive for the championship. Also, Charles is not far away from Norris also for P2 on the drivers’ side. Overall it is a good result, I would prefer we were 20 points ahead but we are behind. Lets see, on paper Abu Dhabi should be good, but lets fight until the final corner.”
Recovery from team –
Leclerc: “I felt like we optimised yesterday and today. We knew that it wasn’t going to be our strongest weekend, but we decided to just focus on ourselves and try to do what was the best possible result for us. And I think we achieved that very well. We should be happy. Then we of course need to look at what we can do in the future to be faster on those kind of tracks. But yeah, this weekend we did work very well as a team.”
Drink bottle situation –
Leclerc: “Yeah, I did not drink, but I honestly, I don’t think it was that much of an issue for this race. Last year it would have been a really, really big issue. I think I wouldn’t have finished the race without my drink, but this year it was actually pretty, pretty chill. So yeah, in terms of dehydration, it wasn’t bad, but it was quite physical in the corners just because we had no saving to do today. There was basically no saving. It was just flat out pushing from the first lap to the last lap, which is quite enjoyable as a driver. I don’t think any of us drivers had our heads straight in the fast corners at the end of the race. It was very physical.”
What led to puncture, safety car delay –
Sainz: “I think it was a bit of a perfect storm. I think everyone was running very low on the front left tyre in terms of tread, I think no one had much tread left, this exposes obviously the tyre and the carcass to a puncture, and then the sharp kerbs, the gravel on the track, the debris, could have been any of them the cause of the puncture, we will never know. I just know that I got the worst of it because I had to do a full lap punctured, plus a slow pit stop, plus the damage, plus a Safety Car when I came out of the pit.
“[It took] more than too long, I wish it could have come out while I was having a puncture so no one could overtake me, or no one could profit from the Safety Car, or we could all profit from the Safety Car given that two cars [had punctures]. That lap that I did on a punctured car, clearly there was something going on and I had to do a full lap and a very slow pit stop before the Safety Car came out, which is the most frustrating part of it.”
Vasseur: “For sure, tyre wear is not helping, but there is not the puncture, it is the debris.”
Strategy –
Vasseur: “The plan was to pit even later on. On one car, we pitted because of the puncture. On the other one, that was the safety car. But the initial plan was to pit even later than this. The plan was to go longer on this. We were quite confident with the medium and the deg was less than the fuel effect and we were going faster and faster, it was…when you go over the slow period, it was performing for us and we were confident to move forward. It is too conservative if you have a safety car on Lap 25.
“But the plan was to be a bit longer than this. I think it was the right approach because we decided to push around Lap 15 and the pace was there, we were expecting to do a long stint. Honestly, the initial plan was well executed by the two drivers, they did a very good job. Now you know the story after the safety car but the plan was well executed.”
Here’s puncture for Carlos Sainz: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-qatar-grand-prix-safety-car-out-after-punctures-for-hamilton-and-sainz-on-the-same-lap.1817262809126218006
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