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Being the 3rd race and already ruling them out of the championship seems a little premature.
About the wind tomorrow (Shovlin says similar things about it changing car balance in another interview)Vasseur: "Difficult to put the lap together. There's work to do, but tomorrow the wind can change everything"
The end of day timing sheet does indicate that Ferrari is the first of the pursuers among the top teams, but the gap to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris is around 4 tenths from Lewis Hamilton, who is faster and more comfortable compared to Leclerc. An important gap that needs to be reduced if they want to fight for something significant in Qualifying, but also try to create a small favorable gap against other rivals. "It's difficult to put together the lap here. There's a lot of traffic, many interruptions, but it will probably be the same tomorrow. There are many complicated fast corners and it's hard to make up time, and it's difficult if there's traffic" commented Vasseur to Sky Sport F1 Italia's microphones, however clearly highlighting what the problems with the SF-25 are: "If we're missing something today it's in turns 9 and 11, which are the slowest". In terms of balance, the car still gave some understeer problems, but hearing the Team Principal's words, at the end of the day his two drivers were still happy with the SF-25's balance. "I don't think we are too far away"
The weather can therefore be a factor, but so is the wind at Suzuka, just as the Scuderia itself had analyzed through the words of one of its engineers, Mario Farina. In his daily commentary, Frederic Vasseur focused on this aspect, indicating that tomorrow conditions could be very different.* "The wind will turn 180° and this means that we will have it favorable in the fast sections and against us on the straight, and this can change the balance of the car. We will all be in the same situation, but it will be very difficult for the drivers to manage it. We have to work to be ready tomorrow"* concluded the head of Ferrari's pit wall.
The problem isn't that they were bold, it's that the changes they did make aren't working as well as hoped.
Its not like that difference is that small where bahrain update can help.
Taking stock of the day, Leclerc believes that Ferrari's potential is greater than what has been seen so far, while reminding how the wind can be an important factor tomorrow: "I tried so many things today and that's why I think it was a very constructive day. We haven't put everything together, I believe the performance is probably better than what we're showing now. I can't wait for tomorrow, but I think everything we learned today will be completely the opposite given that we're expecting a huge change in wind direction. It will be a big change, especially on a track like this".
In FP2, Leclerc had to settle for 14 completed laps due to the 4 red flags that interrupted the work on track. Despite this, the Monegasque received comforting responses from his SF-25, also in view of the continuation of the championship: "It was frustrating, because every time there was traffic or a red flag, or another red flag or yet another red flag. I think it was a very constructive session, we made a lot of changes. It was a good day, I think I learned a lot about this car today and I feel I've understood what I want more for future races. So it's always a good thing"
