Setup changes put Ferrari "on the on a knife edge," claims Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that Ferrari made tweaks to the set-up of his SF-25 between the 19-lap sprint race and the main qualifying session which have put his car "on a knife edge."

Following the tough race in Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton shocked his rivals on Friday when he secured his maiden F1 pole position with Ferrari for the Shanghai sprint race. The Briton then went on to dominate proceedings in the 19-lap race, building up an enormous gap in the closing stages of the sprint.

However, things became more challenging in the conventional qualifying session as he was unable to extract the maximum of his SF-25 over a single hot lap which has left him fifth on the grid for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix.

“Getting my first Sprint pole and then win in a Ferrari was such a special feeling. The car felt strong and we managed to bring everything together to cross the line first and bring home some good points for the team. The reaction from the crowd was just incredible.

“Qualifying was tougher and we didn’t get the most out of the car over a lap today, but clearly we have the potential and now it’s about working hard to make sure we can consistently unlock that pace across a weekend. The taste of winning has made us all even hungrier and although it will be tough tomorrow, we know the work we need to do.”

Although Hamilton had entered qualifying hopeful of repeating his success from Friday, he revealed that changes to the set-up of his car meant that he his SF-25 was more difficult to drive than in the earlier part of the weekend.

“We started really optimistic naturally, but then we made just a couple of small changes, tweaks to the car, and it really put the car on a knife edge. I think the wind picked up a little bit as well, so the car was just trickier today. It was harder to put laps together.

“You want a car that's balanced. At the moment, from one corner to the next, the car has a different balance. You just want a car that you can rely on. When you attack the corners, you know it's going to stay with you instead of lock-up and go on or snap into oversteer and, when it's unpredictable, then you've got no hope," noted the Briton.

His team-mate Charles Leclerc took only fifth in the sprint race as he was unable to capitalize on his late charge in the dying stages of the 19-lap race. The Monegasque then went on to qualify sixth on he grid for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix.

“The Sprint Race was not ideal," Leclerc started. "We didn’t have the pace to do anything special in the first part, then the second was slightly better, but it just wasn’t enough to get further ahead without taking risks. I went with a slightly different configuration this morning, but I don’t think there was much more to gain in terms of set-up for tomorrow.

“Qualifying went as expected, our overall pace was not fast enough and it will be tricky now that we are both in the middle of the pack, starting side by side. We struggled a bit more today compared to Sprint Qualifying and we have to understand where we could have taken a step forward even if I feel I got everything I could out of the car this afternoon.

“The race will be challenging, and tyre management will be a huge factor. There is an unknown in that we have never experienced these cars in similar track temperatures so far, whether in testing or a race, so it will be interesting to see how this will affect everyone’s performance. The aim is always to win, but starting from where we are on the grid, a podium would be a positive result.”

Assessing his chances in the race, Leclerc said that the dirty air might rob him and his team-mate Hamilton of any chances of fighting for the victory in Shanghai.

“This morning we had good pace in the car, especially towards the end of the stint but being in dirty air is always trickier, so I had wished for a better quali.

“The tyre management looked good, but we need to be careful because, on my side, I was struggling a lot being in dirty air. Lewis had really good pace in free air. We just need to try and find free air from where we start.

“This is going to be a bit tricky because, starting P5 and P6, we've got quite a few cars in front, so to find free air is never easy. But we'll try our best and hopefully our race pace is better than the guys around.”