Ferrari concedes too much ground in the last sector

What to do about the Silver Arrows? This is certainly the question that dominates the stand Ferrari Saturday evening after qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Never have the two red single-seaters been faster than the Mercedes, whether in Free Practice 3 in the morning, or in qualifying in the evening. 

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen will start from the second row. The first named does not see this result in a negative light, on the contrary. “The session went up and down. We tried everything we had in store. It was close, less than a tenth after the first attempt in Q3. I then slipped a place during the second run, so I guess their first attempt wasn't as fast as ours." QED!

#Q3 is here! #Go Ferrari #Which #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/IA7IvZBpao

- Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 24, 2018

The German prefers to be positive. " I am satisfied. For Sunday, I would have liked to start from the front row, but our most serious rivals preserved their performance for the last flying lap. As I already told the guys in the garage, in the race we are going to fight as much as possible. Anything can happen”, says Sebastian Vettel.

It's all well and good to remobilize the troops, but in what area does the Ferrari give up time to the Mercedes ? “The top speed in a straight line is good, but we lacked a little downforce in sector 3.”

Kimi Räikkönen (fourth fastest), who is not talkative, agrees. “There was nothing wrong with the behavior of the car. But we lacked speed in the final section. It is where we lost the most time and it has been going on since the start of the weekend. » This is what the Scuderia must correct to regain color in the race.