Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secured second and eighth place respectively in qualifying for the Brazilian GP. However, Ferrari faced a disadvantage due to the placement of their garage in the pit lane, as stated by team boss Frederic Vasseur.
Ferrari can take satisfaction in Leclerc’s second place starting position, but the location of the Ferrari garage in the pit lane particularly impacted Carlos Sainz.
Sainz expressed, “I was eighth in line to go out and I qualified eighth. P9 and P10 took to the track after me. Obviously, the later you went onto the track, the slower the circuit was. It wasn’t ideal.”
Ferrari’s team boss Frederic Vasseur supported this observation, highlighting the difficulty of sending both cars out before the competition due to the garage’s position in the pit lane.
The order of the garages is determined by the previous season’s championship results. As Ferrari finished second in 2022, their garage was second when entering the pit lane. While this can be advantageous during a race, it proved to be a disadvantage during qualifying, where cars have to exit the circuit from outside the garage.
Vasseur explained, “The location of our garage in the pit lane worked against us in Q3, and we ended up with a long line of cars in front of us.”
Fortunately, Charles managed to qualify his car on the front row despite the challenging conditions. This speaks volumes about the difficulty drivers faced during the session.