2023-10-08 21:59:00
In Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix race, the Ferrari team was represented only by Charles Leclerc, who finished fifth. His teammate Carlos Sainz’s car had a fuel leak shortly before the start, which prevented the Spaniard from taking part in the race.
Charles Leclerc (5th): “We fully realized our potential in the race. In a sense, it was important to minimize losses, given that Carlos did not start. During the race, I did not attack to the limit in order to be guaranteed to reach the finish line.
We expected the McLaren drivers to be fast, but we didn’t expect them to be as fast as they were this weekend. Mercedes also had a fast car and I think George Russell didn’t attack with full force either.
From a physical point of view, this was the hardest race of my career. This happened for several reasons: due to the high temperature and three pit stops – due to such a number of stops, we drove each lap of the race almost in qualifying mode. As a result, we experienced much higher loads in high-speed corners.
A series of stages awaits us ahead. We will do everything possible to finish the season on a high level, taking into account our struggle in the Constructors’ Championship.”
Carlos Sainz (did not start): “I’m disappointed because I lost the opportunity to earn points. We know that motorsport can be brutal at times, and that’s exactly the case for me. It’s a shame because I think we could have had a good race and earned the points we needed in the Constructors’ Championship.
As in any situation, we will draw conclusions from what happened. Now we need to focus on the remaining five races of the season.”
Frederick VasseurTeam Principal: “We cannot be satisfied with how this weekend turned out, as we lost points against our closest rivals and were unable to send Carlos onto the grid due to technical problems.
However, in the case of Charles, we did everything we could. He drove excellently in extreme conditions, and the mechanics performed brilliant pit stops. We might have been slow in the middle because of the traffic, but in any case it would have been difficult to keep George Russell behind.
A chaotic weekend, held in very difficult conditions with several unexpected factors, such as problems with curbs and a technical breakdown on Carlos’ SF-23.
We go home with ten points from Charles’ fifth place finish. The team will begin preparations for a structured series of American stages, which will also be very difficult.”
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