The Ferrari has disappeared. Suddenly eliminated from the first two rows of the Spanish Grand Prix. When you least expect it, here comes the cold, or rather icy, shower and the faces of the Ferrari fans are those who gnaw inside and out. In Formula 1 where Max Verstappen no longer reigns for the moment, Ferrari was not invited to the party. Lando Norris with a practically perfect lap took pole from his friend Max in a grand prix like the one in Spain where 24 of the 33 races run so far have been won by those who started in front of everyone. After the shivers of the morning when a short circuit sent McLaren’s hospitality up in smoke, it was a dream afternoon for the team directed by Andrea Stella, also favored by an involuntary trail from an Alpine that helped the Englishman. Lando and Max are separated by 20 thousandths, the others are three tenths away with the surprise of a Mercedes as the protagonist as in Canada. And Hamilton in front of Russell in the face of the anonymous letters.
The disappointment is Ferrari’s face: Leclerc and Sainz are only in the third row beaten by a McLaren, a Red Bull and two Mercedes. The Scuderia suddenly became the fourth force on the track in a large group enclosed by just over three tenths. An unexpected slip after Sainz had deceived everyone in the morning with the best time in Fp3. «I thought I could fight for pole, but then when we got to Q2 I realized there wasn’t any. We are slower now.” In this Formula 1 with three teams very close in performance, the difference between a perfect lap and one with some flaws like those of Charles and Carlos means losing three or four positions. «The impact of tire management has more weight than the new features – said Vasseur – It will be like this until the end of the championship, sometimes we will be in front, other times behind like here. We have one more set of soft tires than the Mercedes and our goal is to score points by trying to recover to get to the podium and therefore take home more points than we would get with a fifth and sixth place.”
Light rain is on the way for the race, but it won’t help the Ferrari drivers much because in certain conditions Verstappen is always superior. «If it rains something could change but in normal conditions at most we can aim for the podium. It wasn’t a good day,” Leclerc admitted without smiling.
