Ferrari gains ground on Mercedes
Mercedes fumbles a bit in qualifying and Ferrari gets closer, indicating an encouraging trend that Frederic Vasseur is keen to emphasize while explaining that yes, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc may not yet have the car to win, but the path is undoubtedly the right one. This is also shown by the gaps, which remain significant but are more than halved compared to the last qualifying sessions of the season, held last week in Melbourne. A result, that of the Chinese GP qualifying, which leaves a glimmer of hope for the Scuderia which, considering the powerful start shown so far at the getaway, can aim in the race to put even more pressure on poleman Andrea Kimi Antonelli and the World Championship leader, George Russell.
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The words of Ferrari boss, Fred Vasseur
“It is difficult to build a statistic based on only two events – explains Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, to Sky – but it is true that we are going in the right direction. We were 8 tenths behind in Melbourne, 6 yesterday and 4 today, which means we are on the right track and that there is a certain convergence of performance. However, the Mercedes are still a little bit faster than us on the straights, so we must continue to push in this direction. We managed to fight for a couple of laps in the Sprint, let’s try to do something more tomorrow”.
The tires, however, are not a concern, which in the 19 laps of the 100 km sprint race put all the drivers in difficulty, including a Hamilton who after the checkered flag admitted to having burned his front left with the battles in the first laps: “It’s true, but this morning we had the mediums while we still have a set of Hard and another of mediums for the race. I believe that in the GP things will probably go a little better, also because we know the track better”.
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The internal battle in the garage between Hamilton and Leclerc
And then there is the ace up the sleeve of the starts: “So far we have started well and it is true that it has been one of our strengths, but in the end the others will also improve. We are improving in qualifying, they will improve where they are a little weaker than us, so we don’t expect to gain three positions at every start for the whole season. But tomorrow we will do well”. No problem, however, in the Maranello garage after the skirmishes between Leclerc and Hamilton in the Sprint: “You always have to manage this type of situation when there are two cars starting side by side. I think it’s the same for every team and every driver. But they are professionals and I think it’s positive for us to have two great drivers pushing each other”, concluded Ferrari boss, Frederic Vasseur.
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