At least Ferrari's aero mapping worked. Yesterday, it was said that Ferrari found 3 tenths justs by that change and it was proved today. On a track similar to Barcelona, Ferrari was less than 7 tenths slower than Mercedes so very well done.
Rough time for Seb, wins in Canada only to be denied by a fabricated penalty, now this...
So it seems the best we can hope for here is a podium for Charles.
So 2023 started off bad, but managed to claw back some lap time come end of the year. Lets hope SF24 will give us tifosi something to smile about.
With a car at least half a second faster in any circuit as an average and a driver of Lewis' quality, the championship as been signed, sealed and delivered.
VERY hard to be positive and probably won't watch tomorrow. I feel bad for our team, Charles especially.
I remember in 1997 and 1998 when Schumacher regularly used to qualify behind, starting fifth on the grid was not rare, and he was still able to win.
Hopefully Leclerc and Vettel can get a good start.
Apparently Vettel had power unit issues in qualifying today
"Vettel paid for a drop in power on the six-cylinder engine, but he preferred not to talk to the journalists about it, merely pointing out a lack of feeling with the car."
I'm sad to say that I think there is no point watching the race tomorrow, it's going to be a slaughter and the mercs are going to be 20 secs down the road in 20-25 laps. I think we'll struggle to fight even the bulls :(
Also I get the feeling that seb is close to leaving F1, I really don't think his heart is in it anymore.
The lack of posts on this thread just proves that it's not only Seb who is losing patience with this fabricated version of F1 and I wouldn't be surprised if he does quit F1 for his own sanity. It is soul-destroying enough that no-one can smash this Merc dominance, I am not convinced that they aren't bending the rules somehow and the tyre issue is now being raised by all the other teams. Seb had a rubbish quali and I hope there is no gearbox problem, Charles did all he could but fighting a losing battle is no fun for the drivers or us. And Mclaren in front of a Ferrari brings back nightmares for me. Good to see GIO in the top 10, that and Charles kept me from doing myself an injury.
Well done Charles..!! Good quali for him & imp too.
There was a team dedicated to him from ferrari on how to go prep for q3. It paid dividends for him.
Max is gonna fight Leclerc for the 3rd place podium finish.
The Merc's he says are too fast on this track.
It's not how start but how you finish.
Charles Leclerc #16
“It has been a good weekend so far and I have felt comfortable in the car since FP1. For the past few weeks, my main target has been improving the car set up in order to suit the track evolution from Q1 to Q3. From this point of view, I am satisfied with my personal performance and have definitely made a step forward.
On the other hand, we are not where we should be, relative to our competitors in terms of lap times. We have a lot of work to do and I will push to have a good start in order to challenge them during the race tomorrow.”
Sebastian Vettel #5
“It was a bit of a funny session, as I didn’t get a consistent feel for the car and didn’t extract the maximum out of it, so I can’t be happy with that. On the last lap I just didn’t have the same feeling as during other parts of the session and that’s why we didn’t qualify where we should be. The car was better than where we ended up.
On the other hand, I am looking forward to tomorrow. It will be difficult to manage the tyres, but in the race, usually things settle down so it’s much more straightforward and should be more consistent, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
Mattia Binotto Team Principal
“We knew before coming here that this weekend would be more difficult than usual for us. Nevertheless, I think that compared to the Spanish Grand Prix, we have made a small step in the right direction, which is what we were looking to do.
Sebastian was not happy with his tyres in Q3. However, tomorrow’s race will be long, as are the straights, so there should be plenty of opportunities to move up the order.”
CAVALLINO RAMPANTE PER SEMPRE
so glad not going to be home to watch a Merc 1-2.
hope not but cannt see anything other.
CAVALLINO RAMPANTE PER SEMPRE
It's all about who's on the podium each race. Knowing 1st place is taken ; 4th should be considered coming in 3rd! Charles for sure is giving Ferrari fans something to watch !
Even 1st place is sealed who has the strongest car along with favoured tyres. People still watch due to ferrari most of them.
Not who drives the car. It’s the brand which has rich history. Not like energy drink company & taxi car .
Mercedes advantage against Ferrari is bigger on softs than on medium. Mercedes engineers said that Seb's Q2 lap was on their level. Seb also admitted that his Q2 lap wasn't even a real push lap since he tried to save the tyres for the race.
@Amus
"In Q2, Ferrari was 0.9s faster on the straights than Mercedes while in Q3 there were practically no differences between them on the straights. Ferrari believes it had something to do with the changed wind direction (wind blew in the face of the cars on the Mistral straight)"
The medium tyres are more robust. The tread does not move as much.
Vettel explains: "Mercedes simply has more downforce. When they arrive in S3, their tyres continue to have more grip than ours. The softer the tyres get, the bigger the gap to them."
The actual race will be for 3rd place.....Leclerc, Max, and possibly Norris. Vettel to bring up the rear.
Let's see how the pit strat goes for Leclerc.
It's not how start but how you finish.
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