Ferrari once more endured one in all its worst System 1 qualifying periods in 2025 on the Qatar Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton down in tenth and 18th respectively.
This adopted a tricky dash occasion, the place the Ferrari drivers certified virtually precisely in the identical positions earlier than ending thirteenth and seventeenth, with Leclerc visibly struggling to not lose management of his SF-25.
Hamilton began the dash from the pitlane because the Scuderia tried set-up tweaks in a bid to alleviate the automotive’s flaws, however this was evidently useless – and even made issues worse – as Hamilton lamented the automotive’s ‘sliding, bouncing, snapping and understeer’.
“It’s a combat such as you couldn’t imagine,” the seven-time world champion informed Sky Sports activities F1.
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Regardless of the chance for brand spanking new tweaks, issues didn’t enhance in the primary qualifying session on Saturday evening. Leclerc did make the top-10 shoot-out by simply 0.01s in Q2, however he clearly obtained little satisfaction from it. The Monegasque minimize a downbeat determine within the post-qualifying media pen, minutes after a high-speed spin in Q3.
“Extremely tough day, extremely tough weekend,” the Monegasque informed F1 TV. “I do not actually know what to say. It has been extraordinarily tough to drive this automotive, to maintain it on monitor. I am making an attempt completely the whole lot as a way to extract something I can from that automotive, however in the intervening time it is the one factor that’s potential for now.”
Chatting with written media about his spectacular Q3 spin, he defined: “I simply took a silly quantity of dangers, identical to I do on each single nook in Q3 to try to get P8, P9, but it surely was slightly bit an excessive amount of.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Picture by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
A two-stop technique has been mandated for the grand prix on account of considerations over tyre put on, which suggests Ferrari doesn’t have a lot scope for tactical variance in its bid to get well an honest factors haul on Sunday.
Leclerc even admitted that his solely hope was ‘getting slightly bit fortunate’ with security automobiles – he in any other case fears he won’t even rating factors.
“Am I optimistic for tomorrow? I’m not, which is kind of uncommon,” he informed F1 TV. “Usually I am a really optimistic particular person, however I’ve to say that this weekend, there’s zero efficiency on this automotive.
“I hope it should work higher tomorrow, however nothing that I felt with this automotive made me suppose that I’ll have a greater feeling tomorrow.”
In the meantime, F1 TV requested Hamilton what message he want to ship his hundreds of thousands of followers in these tough instances, however the Briton was unusually elusive: “I do not actually have a message proper now…”
After an extended pause, Hamilton added: “I am sorry. However I am extremely grateful for the help that I’ve had all yr. I would not have made it by means of with out them.”
Ferrari’s probabilities to safe something higher than fourth within the constructors’ championship have been slipping away – and the Italian outfit is unlikely to show the tide. It has a 22-point deficit on third-placed Purple Bull, whose lead driver Max Verstappen will begin the grand prix from third.
Further reporting by Stuart Codling
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