It was a bit of a day of extremes for Ferrari after the first two free practices for the Saudi Arabian GP. Charles Leclerc was confident he could take on the fight with the McLarens with the right setup tweaks. Lewis Hamilton however was not so positive, as he failed to get the soft tyres to work.
Hamilton looking for solutions
The seven-time world champion had a rough day, with an eighth and 13th position in the respective practice sessions.
“Not the greatest [feeling],” Hamilton said. “I think getting the tyres working today was the issue for myself.”
After four races so far with the Maranello outfit, Hamilton refused to blame teething issues in a new environment for his performance.
“It’s nothing to do with the team, it’s just we were struggling to get the tyres working.”
The 40-year old is still looking to get on the right track with his new employer, but hasn’t really been able to improve on Saturdays during those first four weekends.
“Normally, Saturday goes backwards,” he explained. “But there’s not a lot backwards for me to go from where I am. So hopefully tomorrow, overnight, we’ll make some improvements to the car.
“There were a few bits through the session that felt good, and just hopefully get to the soft tyre, it’s not there.
“So we’ll make some changes overnight and hope tomorrow we can come back a bit stronger.”
Having mentioned converging setups in previous races, Hamilton hinted that this weekend at the Saudi Arabian GP Ferrari might actually do that.
“Possibly, possibly. We’ll work together tonight to see, because through both sessions we were trying different things across both cars to then converge. So wing settings and all sorts.
“So I’m hoping tomorrow we’ll have a better understanding after we analyse tonight, and hoping for a better day tomorrow.”
Asked what the SF-25 is capable of, the 105-time grand prix winner replied down-hearted.
“I don’t know, mate. For me, I’m just trying to see if I’m getting the top ten at the moment.”
Leclerc hopes for setup sweet spot
In the other side of the garage there was more hope for a decent result for Ferrari in the Saudi Arabian GP.
“It was okay,” Leclerc started his free practice analysis. “I mean, it was a tricky day. Obviously, it’s a very challenging track where confidence needs to be very high in order to perform at best.”
The Monegasque driver felt good about all the stuff that Hamilton and he tried throughout both sessions.
“I think we changed the car a lot. But it was a very positive day because I’ve learned a lot from it. And I think once we put everything in the right window, there should be a bit more performance coming out of the car.”
Finishing third and fourth today, Leclerc had more reason to be optimistic than his team mate. This despite both times behind at least one McLaren driver.
“McLaren seems to be very strong once again, and a lot stronger than us. But again, never say never. If we put everything together, I think everything is possible.
“I do [feel confident]. I think we’ve done a good job by exploring different options. And it’s pretty clear in my head what I want to do for tomorrow.
“So we are going to go into that direction and I hope that it will pay off once we get to qualifying.”
