The Mercedes were too far ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari
Unsurprisingly, the two Ferraris qualified on the second row of the grid. But the gap seems larger than the men in red had hoped.
The first qualifying session of the season ended well before the checkered flag of Q3 since all the competitors then decided not to rejoin the battle, starting with the two Ferraris.
One of the reasons is that Sebastian Vettel felt the gap with the pole time was too significant to make it worth going out again: « I did a very good lap but, in the end, the gap was quite large. I felt my first lap was quite good. I couldn’t gain half a second. So we stopped and saved a set of tires, even though we would have liked to be closer. »
It’s mainly the disappointment of not having reduced the gap in pure performance that prevails: “Compared to the Mercedes, we are further than we expected. We are still happy with the 3rd and 4th places, especially for me because it was difficult to find the rhythm in qualifying.”
As for Kimi Räikkönen, as usual, he considered his qualification as mixed: « It wasn’t an ideal qualification but it wasn’t too bad either. I felt good in the car. Even if the Mercedes are faster than us, I don’t think we should worry too much. »
Indeed, Ferrari insisted over the winter that they were focusing primarily on race pace: « I was struggling with the front tires in the first three corners. But otherwise, we have a very good package and it was improving all the time. »
So we will see if the Ferraris will be able to pose more of a threat to the Mercedes during the race. Or if by mid-race, they will decide it’s better to preserve their positions…
