Ferrari defends 2022 F1 Brazilian GP qualifying strategy calls, claims session was 'very, very intense for all teams'

During the 2022 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying session, Ferrari yet again made a strategic blunder that cost Charles Leclerc a good position. Laurent Mekies, the team's Racing Director, however, defended the strategy calls made by them.

Yesterday's qualifying session was quite tricky due to unpredictable showers and the track being both dry and wet in different parts. Though fans loved the unpredictable session, it was quite a head-scratcher for teams. Mekies pointed out how it was not only difficult for Ferrari, but for all the other teams as well.

He said:

"It was a difficult qualifying as it was very, very intense for all teams, it was the sort of qualifying where you need to make a lot of calls. Some of the ones we made worked, some of them worked less."

It has not been a good year for Ferrari despite them being quicker than most teams on the grid. One of the reasons was their questionable strategy calls that have not been successful. Laurent Mekies explained how the team will be working with the drivers to analyze their decisions.

He further said:

"There's always a lot to learn about the right decisions you made and the less right ones. Certainly, it is something that we have taken the good habits from to analyse in detail with the team and drivers to pull together as a group."

During Q3, Charles Leclerc was the only driver who was on intermediate tires while every other driver was on soft tires. Hence, he was unable to put in a good lap time. By the time he changed his tires and went on for another lap, George Russell spun into the gravel, bringing out a red flag. Later on, the heavy rain ended the session, leaving the Ferrari driver in P10.

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Charles Leclerc furious after Ferrari's tire mishap in 2022 Brazilian GP qualifying

Ferrari made another mistake in their strategy that cost Charles Leclerc a good grid position in the 2022 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying. This made the Monegasque quite angry with the team's decision to put him on intermediate tires, with Leclerc expressing his sadness and anger after the qualifying session was over.

He said:

"We were expecting some rain that never came. I will speak to the team and understand what we can do better in those conditions but extremely disappointing; the pace was there."

He further added:

"Now we need to get on it and obviously do everything good for the rest of the weekend. I accepted the decision to go on the inters, and then I waited for the rain that never came."

During the Q3 session, Ferrari asked Charles Leclerc to pit at the wrong moment, right after he went past the pitlane. This made the driver even angrier as they didn't time the radio properly.