Ferrari corrected the situation in previous years by allowing its drivers to have a better car in the race than in qualifying. Jock Clear, the team's performance engineer, explains that it was difficult for the Scuderia in previous seasons knowing that the race would go against them.
The SF-24 is a slightly less sharp car in qualifying, but Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz often display a very solid pace on Sundays, and especially over the last few weekends during which they dominated in performance over the long stints.
“I think we already mentioned that this year we changed our focus a little bit” Clear said. “People saw that two or three years ago we were the kings of qualifying and that we struggled a lot on Sunday. But even last year the balance wasn't perfect.”
“I think what's encouraging this year is that wherever the drivers qualify, they get out of the car at the end of qualifying and say, 'I know I can fight in race tomorrow', which, for the drivers, allows them to have a very strong mind.”
“In previous years, Charles would come out of the car first in qualifying and say to himself, 'Now I have to try to hang on in the race.' And that's a real, you know, when he had to face 56 laps to holding on to a position was a different perspective.”
“Now we go into the race knowing that we qualified in second and third place. We know we can fight. We know we can win from those positions. And that's a very, very good thing . Psychologically and technically, this is the right way to approach the race.”
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