Ferrari has endured a really troublesome begin to the season, having suffered two disqualifications and struggled for pure tempo in all circumstances. Nevertheless, the Maranello-based outfit has been inch-perfect and immensely fast within the pit lane because it set the quickest pit cease in all three races,
Charles Leclerc endured a tricky begin to the Suzuka weekend, however he managed to enhance his automobile steadiness for Saturday’s qualifying to not less than qualify fourth on the grid for the 53-lap Japanese Grand Prix.
The Monegasque had an extraordinary begin to keep his beginning place, and though he wanted to fend off a feisty George Russell within the opening laps, he managed to remain forward after the one spherical of pit stops due to an ideal timing from Ferrari. The eight-time grand prix winner then held on to P4, however he was continually three tenth per lap slower than the Purple Bull of Max Verstappen and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton needed to work a bit extra after beginning on the onerous compound tyre. He appeared very comfy within the dying phases of his first stint, continually posting private finest lap instances regardless of his ageing tyres.
Nevertheless, he encountered sudden difficulties on the medium tyres. Whereas his preliminary laps had been very encouraging, he was then unable to seek out the tempo to chase down Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and misplaced connection to his Mercedes alternative because the second stint progressed.
The Scuderia required solely 2.18s to exchange Hamilton’s onerous tyres with a set of latest mediums throughout the Briton’s sole pit cease. The Scuderia’s pit cease with Leclerc took solely 2.4s which turned the fifth quickest pit cease.
McLaren didn’t solely accumulate a double podium end in Bahrain, however they set the second quickest tyre service (2.19s), from Mercedes (2.26s) in third.
For the third race in a row, @ScuderiaFerrari claims the DHL Quickest Pit Cease – a wonderful begin to the season for the mechanics.#F1 #DHLF1 #JapaneseGP #DHLFastestPitStop pic.twitter.com/lculaE38cM
— DHL_Motorsports (@DHL_Motorsports) April 6, 2025
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