Ferrari “back to reality” in Qatar GP sprint quali after topping FP1

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s low-key performance in Qatar sprint qualifying was a “coming back to reality” moment after securing fourth and fifth on Saturday’s Formula 1 grid.

The Monegasque had headlined free practice with a considerable margin over Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, beating the McLarens by almost 0.5 seconds, but fell behind them and George Russell in qualifying.

He was also outqualified by team-mate Carlos Sainz, who clinched fourth in the dying stages of SQ3.

Leclerc believes that this was more representative of Ferrari’s real pace, although said that he was disappointed not to capitalise on the hopes raised by an impressive practice session.

“It’s not good because when you give it all and we are only P4 and P5, it’s not great considering how important this weekend is for us,” said Leclerc.

“But let’s say that for whatever reason FP1 was a lot above our expectations. This [sprint qualifying] I’ll say is in line with what we expected, so we’re coming back to reality. 

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“Obviously after FP1 there were hopes that we could do something better, but we didn’t.

“If we look at FP1 clearly yes [the sprint win is possible], if we look at qualifying no. For now the most representative is quali so we are not in the best position. But we never know, it’s always different coming race day.”

Sainz explained why he only managed to get a single lap in towards the end of the final session, stating that he was struggling with car balance – particularly understeer – and could not take too many risks on the kerbs.

He added that the earlier aborted laps were not helped by Max Verstappen’s preparation laps ahead, given the dirty air effect at Losail International Circuit.

“We didn’t maximise our package,” said Sainz. “Even though the lap was clean, it was just a lap with a lot of understeer in the car.

“I just couldn’t turn the car basically for the whole lap. It was also a tough lap because it was my only chance to put in a lap, so I couldn’t risk it too much with track limits because I missed the previous lap, I just had to make sure I was getting a lap in.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Unfortunately we were in a situation where I went into sector one and sector two with Max in front, and he was preparing his tyres so I had quite a bit of dirty air following him around. 

“On top of that, the car balance was just off. We picked up a lot of understeer from the [soft] tyre which meant we were just simply struggling to turn the car. 

“Then I needed to cool the tyres for a couple of laps and when I went again, the understeer rebalance was still there. But I needed to put a lap in and that was enough for fourth.”