F1 | Italian GP | Leclerc bemoans ‘’hard to drive’’ Ferrari on another tough day for the Scuderia
A massive fight to make Q3 tomorrow is in store for the red team at their first home race of 2020.
While Ferrari does seem to be more competitive than they were last weekend at Spa, FP2 showed how difficult this weekend is still going to be. After an emotional victory for Leclerc at Monza last year, reaching Q3 and scoring points is the best they can aim for in 2020. Leclerc ended up in P9, with Vettel three places further back.
Both drivers hit trouble in the afternoon, too. Sebastian Vettel spun on the exit of Lesmo 1 as Charles Leclerc also had a trip through the gravel in the same section. The Monegasque driver was left frustrated over the team radio as he said ‘’the car is so hard to drive’’ following his off-track excursion.
Charles Leclerc – P9: "It was a difficult day. On the one hand, we were positively surprised by our qualifying pace, on the other, we expected to do a bit better on the high fuel runs, so we need to find something to improve our race pace.
The car was very difficult to drive in race trim, where we struggled quite a bit with the balance and the overall degradation of the tyres.
Our target is to be as competitive as possible in both fuel conditions. I don’t think that we can expect much more for qualifying than what we’ve shown today, but I believe there’s still room for improvement on our race pace."
Leclerc runs wide on the exit of the first Lesmo#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/HRtgiiDyvQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 4, 2020
Sebastian Vettel – P12: "Today we used the time to work on the SF1000 in order to be in a better place tomorrow. The car was quite difficult to drive but it’s not the first time this year. As expected, we are losing out down the straight, but we also have to work on the balance to have a better performance in sector two.
Also, on heavy fuel the car is not easy to drive, partly because we have to run with set tyre pressures. I think there will be a big pack of cars fighting to the hundredths in quali and I can image it will be quite similar in the race. It will definitely be complicated."
Spinning Seb! 🔄#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/EgD4Ncn4nM
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 4, 2020
