Carlos Sainz Jr ended qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix as the top Scuderia Ferrari driver, following what was a seemingly challenging day for the Maranello-based team.
Sainz will line-up fifth for Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, after ending up almost six-tenths of a second behind polesitter Max Verstappen. Ferrari’s woes are somewhat of a shock, considering that the Spaniard led a Ferrari one-two Friday morning.
However, it does appear that the Italians turned the engines down during qualifying, over concerns that their unreliable power units might suffer a less than surprising fate. Given that Ferrari are battling Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team for second in the Constructors’ Championship, the team can’t afford for either driver to retire on Sunday.
Sainz admitted that Saturday was “difficulty”, with the F1-75 appearing to be a handful over the kerbs around the circuit.
“It was a difficult qualifying. Riding the kerbs was very tricky for us, especially in the first two sectors, which meant it was challenging to put together the perfect lap. I tried everything out there today to get a better result but couldn’t make it. Nonetheless, the weekend is not over and we will fight hard all the way to the chequered flag.“
Charles Leclerc Admits to “not having a great feeling” in the F1-75.
Charles Leclerc‘s Saturday was considerably worse than his Spanish team-mate, after the Monegasque driver ended the day not even as the second fastest Ferrari-powered driver. Leclerc was beaten in qualifying by Valtteri Bottas, who actually came ridiculously close to beating Sainz too.
Leclerc seemed to struggle with the grip on offer from the F1-75, with the twenty-four year-old having been seen several times sliding and drifting over the kerbs. The Ferrari driver needs to make up places on Saturday, to avoid falling too far behind Sergio Pérez in the battle for second in the Drivers’ Championship.
Leclerc is hopeful that the team “can improve” on Sunday and be closer to the frontrunners, but highlighted that his team need to “investigate” the “driveability” of his car.
“We had a tough qualifying, losing quite a bit of time down the straights and not having a great feeling in terms of drivability. We need to investigate the reasons for this, so that we can improve and challenge our competitors tomorrow.”
Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office