Yep, this is why i said Ferrari did a bad (terrible) job on this car up until now. They were the second-best car last year (bar some specific tracks where MB was better) and this year in race trim they are probably still behind AM and MB overall. They need to make huge improvements to be the second-best car in race trim. Qualifying performance doesn't matter much if you are a sitting duck in the race.AR3-GP wrote: ↑30 Apr 2023, 20:33Yes "bad" in relative terms . and yeah I believe the drivers say the car is nicer to drive now, but I don't think the setup changes made the car fundamentally a couple tenths faster. They still need upgrades for that.Xyz22 wrote: ↑30 Apr 2023, 20:31Finishing behind RB is a bad performance if your goal is to win. Having said that, clearly Jeddah was the outlier and was way worse than Bahrain, Melbourne and Baku.
It's also true that they probably understood the car a bit better and the performance was even better here.
Leclerc was in striking distance of pole in Bahrain, but never did a 2nd run. The car is now more manageable over the stint, but we have seen flashes of the inherent pace everywhere already except for Jeddah.
This is what they have. Leclerc when he's driving well is going to qualify miles ahead of AMR, but then have to face Alonso in the race. Sainz will continue to pick up the rear, fending off the Mercs some ways behind.