Charles Leclerc was pleased to be able to repay the hard work of his mechanics and engineers for fixing his heavily damaged car overnight by putting his Scuderia Ferrari fourth on the grid for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Leclerc hit the turn twenty-two wall hard on Friday evening, but his mechanics worked hard to fix the car in preparation for Saturday’s running, and he starred in Qualifying to set a time good enough for the second row of the grid.
He is now hoping to build on this position on Sunday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and score a good number of points for the team in the Constructors’ Championship.
“I am very happy with my qualifying,” said Leclerc. “Today was all about regaining confidence on this track and I worked on this from my first lap in FP3 to that last lap in qualifying. I really took it to the limit and P4 is a very good result, one that we did not expect.
“Tomorrow will be a tough but exciting race. Despite it being a street circuit, the three long straights make it possible to overtake more than we had anticipated. Our race pace has been strong all weekend, so we should have a good opportunity if we have a clean race.
“A big thank you to everyone on our team for the incredible job they did last night to put the car back together in perfect shape. I will give it my all to bring home a good result for them.”
“Today’s qualifying is a tough one to digest” – Carlos Sainz Jr.
Team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. says it was hard to digest his result in Qualifying after missing out on an appearance in Q3 after he suffered a high-speed spin in turn ten that left him with a damaged rear wing.
The Spaniard attempted to try again after his mechanics attempted a quick fix on his wing, but the download levels were affected and it meant a loss of confidence in the car, and another aborted lap after a second moment at turn ten.
He will start the race from fifteenth on the grid, and although out of position, he feels he can make progress on Sunday evening in the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“Today’s qualifying is a tough one to digest,” said Sainz. “I’ve been fast and comfortable with the car all weekend and a single snap jeopardised the entire qualifying and tomorrow’s race.
“Q1 was very promising and I knew from previous sessions I was also fast with the Medium compound. However, a very aggressive snap of oversteer in turn 10 made me lose the car and, although I managed to avoid a big crash, I clipped the wall and damaged the rear wing. It was unexpected, because I hadn’t experienced that snap in any other run since Friday.
“There was no time to replace the damaged endplate and the guys did their best to fix it before going out again. I was quite fast in the first part of the lap but as soon as I put some load on the rear wing in a more difficult corner I realized the downforce was very compromised and I had to abort.
“The race tomorrow is uncertain and anything can happen. I have confidence in my pace and will give it my all to make up some positions and try to score some good points.”
Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered a big spin during Q2 and will start only fifteenth – Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office