F1 | Ferrari, Mekies: “The small updates brought are bearing fruit”

A two-faced qualification for Ferrari in the Eifel Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc placed himself in fourth position with a truly satisfactory performance, and will therefore start from the second row next to Max Verstappen tomorrow, in what could be a sparkling start behind the two Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton. For Sebastian Vettel only eleventh place but the possibility, at least, of being able to freely choose the preferred rubber compound for the first part of the race.

“It was the best qualifying since mid-season onwards, not so much for the result but for the overall performance – admitted Laurent Mekies, Ferrari sporting director. Charles was fantastic: he immediately found confidence with the track, he constantly improved and thus equaled the best seasonal placing obtained on Saturday, bringing out the full potential of the SF1000. Sebastian had some more difficulties and was unable to get through Q2 but he will at least have the chance to choose the best compound for the first part of the race. The small updates we brought here and two weeks ago in Sochi have given us something more in terms of performance: nothing sensational but when the differences are minimal it doesn't take much to make a significant leap. Having said that, the most important thing is that these developments seem to confirm that all the efforts that the team is making in Maranello are going in the right direction: it is for the end of this championship but, above all, for the next one. Tomorrow the race will be even more uncertain than usual given that all the teams have very few references, both because we haven't raced on this beautiful track for seven years and because yesterday we couldn't run due to the weather conditions. After today's result we have the possibility to choose different strategies with our riders and we will try to make the most of this opportunity. Finally, I would like to congratulate our reserve driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, for the best qualifying of the season: a performance that will certainly give him a further boost of confidence."