Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was left frustrated after qualifying seventh for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix, two places and two tenths of a second behind team-mate Charles Leclerc. The duo will line up for the race fifth and seventh, split by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who had his own reasons to lament being in the back half of the top 10.
Although Leclerc topped Friday’s single free practice session, Ferrari was aware its car didn’t suit the characteristics of the Qatar track. The Scuderia has been slipping back relative to its nearest rivals ever since and, despite an encouraging points haul in Saturday’s sprint race, hit what Sainz described as a “hard limit” on lap time no matter what set-up levers it tried to pull on both cars.
