So, I don’t know if you’ve been following the whole Ferrari debacle at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but man, it’s been a bit of a circus. Imagine a parade where half the clowns forgot their shoes. That’s pretty much what happened. Fred Vasseur, the boss over at Ferrari, basically spilled the beans on how they’ve been wrestling with their tires – like, not literally wrestling, though that would’ve been kinda hilarious. Anyway, those poor tires just couldn’t deal over one flying lap. Something about them being shy or whatever.
Now, Charles Leclerc is out there doing his thing, showing a glimpse of competitiveness, like a cat chasing a laser pointer. Meanwhile, Hamilton looked like he was driving a shopping cart with a wobbly wheel. I kid you not. So yeah, there they were in Jeddah, tussling in the first qualifying bit. Both Leclerc and Hamilton had to whip out a second set of those soft tires. Must be like grabbing your backup dancing shoes when the main pair tears apart. Leclerc was busting moves a bit better though, so he tucked those bad boys away for later rounds, while Hamilton sweated it out.
Then came this weird episode in the midway stage of qualifying, where both had to dance around with two sets of new-soft-shoe tires, just to make it to the stage of Q3. And just as they slipped into the groove, Lando Norris had this crash thing—an unplanned visit to the barriers, if you will—bringing everything to a halt.
So back they went, Leclerc and Hamilton, suiting up for another try. Fast forward, Leclerc clocked in fourth with a 1’27″670 and Hamilton took seventh, at 1’28″201. You know, just a blink of an eye difference in the racing world. Not that I’m a timekeeper, but still, for Ferrari, this wasn’t all doom and gloom. Yet, it was clear that the tires were having a quarter-life crisis, struggling with temperature at the first couple of turns. Like, ice cubes hitting the skillet kinda struggle.
Fred Vasseur, bless his heart, was relatively chill about the whole thing. He mentioned how Ferrari’s been losing time in Turn 1, which is, I guess, where the racing gods laugh at mere mortals losing tenths. But, with serenity befitting a monk in traffic, Fred’s more about focusing on how they’d do once the race hits the track proper.
He even touched on the whole Leclerc versus Hamilton scene. Apparently, Hamilton just wasn’t vibing with the circuit. I get it, sometimes you just don’t click with a place, you know? He was flying like nobody’s business back in Bahrain, but Jeddah just wasn’t whispering sweet nothings to him.
But look, Fred’s optimistic about the future. Something about expressing confidence in Hamilton getting his groove back. Like a rockstar tuning up for the next gig, right? Meanwhile, the rest of the racing grid looks like a pack of cats chasing tails, except McLaren, who are playing with that laser pointer like pros. Vasseur didn’t hold back, saying they’re the consistent ones, while the rest are still working out the kinks.
So there you have it. Not everything’s neat or tied up with a bow. But if there’s an unpredictable, slightly wild element in the air, that’s just the nature of racing. Expect the unexpected or something.
