Ferrari team boss targets podium: 'If you finish second in qualifying...'

Ferrari seemed to be all over the place in the third free practice, but in qualifying the team from Maranello showed signs of recovery. Charles Leclerc came just a tenth and a half short of Sergio Perez for pole position, which satisfied Frederic Vasseur. The replacement for Mattia Binotto now hopes especially for a good race on Sunday.

"Overall, I think qualifying was a good one for the team. Charles was fighting for pole position, and we were something like a tenth short," Vasseur concluded at Viaplay. The Ferrari team boss saw his other driver struggle a lot more. "For Carlos [Sainz] it was a bit more difficult because he had to use a second set [of tyres] in Q1 and then he had just one set in Q3, made a small mistake with this set and it's a shame."

Ferrari wants to take as many points as possible in Saudi Arabia, but the engines have to stay in one piece. A podium finish is definitely the goal, with Sainz starting from P4 and Leclerc from P12. "When you are P2 in qualifying, you have to expect to be on the podium at the end. You know that Jeddah, on paper, is probably one of the easiest [tracks] to overtake, but it's also a strange one, because you could have a train of DRS and it would be a strategic one."

For Ferrari, the level of tyre degradation will also play an important role. In Bahrain, Leclerc and Sainz were through their rubber relatively quickly each time, preventing them from really attacking.