Charles Leclerc is delighted by Ferrari’s decision to sacrifice the Sprint and keep a new set of soft tires for the Grand Prix on Sunday. The Monegasque expressed his delight after seeing Yuki Tsunoda‘s pace on the soft tire during the 24-lap Sprint.
At the start of the Sao Paulo Sprint, Tsunoda was given a fresh set of softs by AlphaTauri. Throughout the race, he maintained good pace and finished an impressive P6. The performance of the Japanese driver has now validated Ferrari’s decision to reserve a new set of softs.
YUKI TSUNODA THE TEAM’S FIRST SPRINT POINTS 🎉#BrazilGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/90Gwq0WlEB
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) November 4, 2023
Following the conclusion of the sprint, Leclerc was quoted on X as saying, “It’s something we need to understand. It’s encouraging to see [Yuki] Tsunoda’s pace on the new softs. We need to understand why we are so quick in qualifying compared to our race pace“.
Nevertheless, starting from the front row gives Leclerc a fantastic opportunity to overtake Verstappen. This is because after starting from P2 in the Sprint race, the Dutchman zoomed past Lando Norris. Leclerc will be hoping to pull a similar maneuver on Verstappen in the main race.
Ferrari have the early edge over Mercedes
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is happy with the strategy his team have used so far this weekend in Sao Paulo. He said, “Our focus is tomorrow’s race, we have one soft and 2 mediums, all new. Today the soft was good, we had to manage a lot due to engine temperatures. We were good in terms of deg compared to Mercedes. AlphaTauri had a new set, so we’ll see there. The start of course will be crucial tomorrow.”
Vasseur knows that Sunday’s Grand Prix is going to be a race of attrition. Tire management is going to be key, and that is an area that Ferrari really need to work on. However, given the promise that the Italian outfit have shown throughout the weekend, Charles Leclerc would be optimistic.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in race pace” 😩
Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s short and long-term focus is on their race pace ⏩ pic.twitter.com/fiGFswufn7
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 4, 2023
The Monegasque will hope that he can capitalize on his fantastic qualifying to help Ferrari register a strong points-scoring finish, knowing that Mercedes is not too far ahead of the Prancing Horse. As things stand, the Silver Arrows only have a 24-point lead over the Italian outfit.
