Challenge for the role of second force
Qualifying for the Chinese GP has once again presented a great challenge between Ferrari and McLaren, who battled for the role of main pursuer of the Mercedes silver arrows. The four red and papaya single-seaters were ultimately separated by less than two tenths, with the two SF-26s getting the better of their rivals and monopolizing the second row, leaving the Piastri-Norris pair – in that order – in fifth and sixth positions.
At the end of Q3, the reigning world champion himself has analyzed what was seen on track in a very interesting and lucid manner, highlighting the steps forward made by his team compared to Melbourne in the use of the Mercedes power unit, but also giving credit to the fine work done by Ferrari in developing its car.
Norris’s analysis
“We have a better power unit than Ferrari – Norris acknowledged – and this is our advantage at the moment. We simply have more straight-line speed, but on the other hand, there is still a car [the Ferrari] that takes some corners faster even than the Mercedes, so keeping up with them in the corners and then trying to overtake them on the straight is difficult. They and Mercedes have different strengths, we’ll see how it goes. They have better tire management, they have more grip and therefore it’s much easier to preserve the tires that way”.
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“We have to push like crazy in the corners to keep up and then obviously we can recover a bit on the straight. If we can improve something then we are certainly not out of the game to compete with them, but it will still be very difficult“, concluded the British McLaren champion.
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