In difficulty since the start of the weekend on the Qatar side with a capricious single-seater, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the two Ferrari drivers, spoke on Saturday about the difficulties encountered.
Mixed fortunes on the Qatar side for the drivers this weekend. If everything went wonderfully with regard to the McLaren drivers in particular, with Oscar Piastri winning the sprint and who will start from pole position this Sunday, and Lando Norris who could be crowned world champion, on the side of the Ferrari team, this weekend on the Losail circuit is starting to make people cringe.
Already in difficulty last week near Las Vegas, Lewis Hamilton was not helped either during free practice, then qualifying for this weekend’s sprint, even starting from the pit lane at the start of the sprint this Saturday. A complicated situation with his SF-25 that the British pilot deplored on his radio at the end of the race, wondering about the reasons which “could have made the car worse”.
Interviewed at the microphone of Aerial sportsthe 40-year-old driver returned to this situation explaining that the choice had been made for the sprint race, to leave “from the pit lane because we wanted to test and make some changes”. The native of Stevenage clarified: “They found some things in the simulator last night, so we applied those changes. And, yes, the car definitely went in the wrong direction and was very, very difficult to drive, for one reason or another. (…) When you enter corners like turn 10, the car starts to bounce. We have a lot of understeer mid-corner. And then when we put the steering wheel on, it stalls and we try to catch up. It is different between low, medium and high speeds. And it’s a fight like you can’t imagine. »
Leclerc no longer successful
Difficulties with his car for Lewis Hamilton, just like his friend at Ferrari, Charles Leclerc who was also not successful during the start of the weekend. Arriving in thirteenth position at the end of the sprint, the Monegasque driver returned to his struggles at the microphone of Canal+: “It was a disaster. We still need to analyze what happened in the first round. I had no rear grip. At the first corner I thought it was the dirty look of the other cars, at the second I tried something, but almost lost the car. (…) I think I almost lost it again in two or three other corners during the first lap. I didn’t find the grip afterwards and it was extremely difficult. »
A little later on Saturday, during qualifying, the 28-year-old driver made a slight error causing his car to lose grip and go straight into a spin. A situation that the pilot relates after the fact: “I think I put the wheels in the gravel a little bit, I lose it just before and that puts the wheels in the gravel. Unfortunately, it’s been a nightmare since FP1, I changed the car since this morning and nothing is better,” before concluding that “in sprint qualifying, it wasn’t good, but not as bad as there. We were off the mark in terms of settings”. During this Sunday’s race, the two Ferrari drivers will try to make the difference despite the failures of their car. Lewis Hamilton will start from 17th position on the starting grid while Charles Leclerc will start from 10th position.
