the premium qualifications Sprints of the season in China ended with a rather unusual result, without a Red Bull or a Ferrari on the front row, and with Lando Norris on Pole for tomorrow's Sprint. We had taken into account the fact that there would be many unknowns. China had been missing from the Formula 1 calendar since 2019. The lack of data and the fact of having brought completely new single-seaters to the track, with the return to ground effect, made everything more uncertain. All in the first Sprint weekend of the season, and with the variable weather with the rain which returned a double-sided Sprint qualifying, with a dry SQ1 and SQ2 and a wet SQ3. Of all of them, the one that fared best in these conditions was McLaren, which managed to get the start on the front row for the second consecutive qualifying, albeit for the Sprint. We're still at the beginning of the weekend. Two more intense sessions await us tomorrow: Sprint and qualifying for the race. It will be crucial to manage the rest of the weekend strategically, which Ferrari hopes to do. Interviewed at the end of the sprint qualifying in China, Vasseur said he was rather optimistic.
Vasseur, Ferrari is betting everything on the race
The strategic match between Ferrari and Vasseur began already with the only session free tests in China. The team took to the track with the soft tires, saving a set of new mediums. The opposite of what Red Bull did. A choice dictated by the team's desire to have more opportunities in view of Sunday's race, as Vasseur confirmed to the microphones of Sky: “We have one more set of new medium tires than everyone else. It can be an advantage."
Sprint qualifying for Ferrari did not go well. The rain complicated the setup of the lap. Above all, Leclerc struggled to stay on track, so much so that he ended up on the wall in SQ3. Neither he nor Sainz managed to put the SF-24 in the first two rows. A regret that should not, however, demotivate the team according to Vasseur. “It happened the way it happened – says the Ferrari team principal. We need to learn from this first wet session of the season and I think the weekend will be dry from now on. It was still a good first session in the wet, especially for learning. About the accident? I haven't spoken to Leclerc yet, but it's true that the conditions were very treacherous with very little grip and we struggled to warm up the tyres, but I think it's the same for everyone. We need to understand if we can do something else, but it's the first time this season for the car and the tires in these extreme conditions. I think the fact that the asphalt was covered with bitumen didn't help the riders at all."
Vasseur: “We hope for a good strategy”
The lack of recent data from the Shanghai circuit has complicated things for all the teams. “A complicated weekend because we hadn't been to China for five years and we didn't have data with this generation of cars. I hope that the strategy adopted so far has been good, because we were the only ones to mount a set of mediums this morning and hards, and this means that we will have a choice of tires for tomorrow, but like everyone else we are a bit blind. It's not an easy choice, but we have to learn from what we did today even if we didn't do many laps, but hopefully they are enough to make a good decision tonight and be in the fight tomorrow."
So far Ferrari's performance has been better in the race than in qualifying. The developments will focus above all on this aspect but will not arrive before Imola. Even in China, the objective will be to maximize the result in the session in which points are awarded, i.e. the race. However, without neglecting the Sprint which will offer important data on race pace. Furthermore, teams will be able to change the setup at the end of this session. A sort of round 2 on the weekend.
“It will be an opportunity to score points, but we will have to choose the compound tonight, also because we have to consider that it could be a starting point for Sunday. We have the advantage of having a set of new averages for tomorrow while the others will have to use used averages. It can be an advantage for tomorrow and it can be a preparation for Sunday where the most points are awarded, so we need to focus on that. Since the beginning of the weekend we have placed the strategy on Sunday and we don't want to change our mind."
