Hills that become mountains to climb. For the Ferrariper Leclerc above all. Forced to leave from tenth position in today’s mini-GP, nothing but a sprint. Nothing but a return to calm after the tensions with Sainz in Barcelona. But this time the partner has nothing to do with it. The Monegasque slams his fists on the car after some very nervous team radio with his track engineer Bryan Bozzi: “What the hell is going on?”. It all happens in the final minutes of a revisable format – that of sprint qualifying – in which the drivers wait until the last moment to leave the garages to save tires and not offer the slipstream to their opponents. You know what a beautiful sight the desert track is, and indeed Boos rain from the orange stands.
Charles is stuck in the queue traffic of the pit lane when it activates the anti-stallthe system that intervenes at low revs to prevent the engine from accidentally switching off. The device works in a certain way: after a few seconds it requires a manual procedure for the power unit to continue operating. In the absence of a human reaction, the anti-stall function stops the engine for the safety of the driver and to protect the mechanical components.
Leclerc was focused on the cars in front of him and may have lost sight of the message that appeared on the steering wheel computer. “I don’t know what happened, everything just shut down. We weren’t extremely strong, but I definitely could have done better than a tenth place.” has explained. In fact, when he manages to restart the engine it is too late to complete the lap. Verstappen is flying again, Dad Jos has started arguing with Horner again («It prevented me from taking part in the exhibition of historic F1 cars, it feels like being in kindergarten»); Lando Norriscon Plates to the trailer, confirm one McLaren competitive everywhere. Russell offers other evidence of progress Mercedes. While Sainzwhich had no problems, reveals a tired Ferrari. Carlos, fifth, took four tenths from Max on a track that can be covered in 1 minute and four seconds. Vasseur blames the jumps (“A bad performance”), but the feeling is that it is there confusion on the origin of the difficulties. Maybe it also has something to do with it the probable exit of technical director Enrico Cardile, to which Aston Martin reportedly offered a large sum. Vasseur doesn’t intend to hold anyone back unwillingly, but in the meantime he has to swim upstream. Today double exam with Sprint race and qualifications for tomorrow’s GP.
