The first Sprint Race of the season takes place today with Charles Leclerc starting on pole ahead of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen in the Red Bulls.
Each driver spoke after the earlier Sprint Qualifying session and voice their individual concerns ahead of the shortened race this afternoon.
Here’s what the three of them had to say:
Charles Leclerc sounded less confident about the team’s race pace and insisted they would have to wait and see how they fare.
“I’m still not sure about our race pace, we will see this afternoon,” he told reporters.
“We still have a lot of work to do but it seems like we have made a step forward so we shall see this afternoon if that’s the case.”
Sergio Perez admitted that Ferrari is simply strong than Red Bull this weekend, however, he is not losing hope over the charging bull’s potential to dominate from P2 and P3.
“Ferrari are just a bit stronger than us over one lap but hopefully this afternoon we can get them on race pace,” Perez said.
Current championship leader, Max Verstappen, said it’s ‘unfortunate’ to be in P3. He explained that between weather conditions and the way the tyres are performing, ‘it’s not going to be straightforward’.
“I think the pace is good, just a bit unfortunate to be P3,” Verstappen said.
“With this heat and how the tyres are behaving I don’t think it’s going to be a straightforward Sprint – some tracks you can just set off and it’s fine, here maybe a bit of tyre management comes into play so it’s still all to play for”.
