Ferrari: Our race pace not as good as we would like

Today the Reds were only good for fifth and seventh on the grid, this time around Carlos Sainz getting the better of Charles Leclerc in a car that was simply no match for the pacesetters.

But this will have come as no surprise for their long-suffering Tifosi as all at the Scuderia had warned them this would be the case at the power-hungry Paul Ricard Circuit, the near one-second deficit a testament to that.

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies did not bear good news for the race either: "We know our race pace is not as good as we would like at the moment, but we will prepare well and will continue to do so over the coming weeks, in order to give our drivers an ever more competitive package."

They have work to do at Maranello, but Mekies also saw the positives on a below-par day for his team: "All in all, it was a satisfactory qualifying. We came here knowing that the hierarchy would be different to that seen at the two unusual tracks in Monaco and Baku and that the characteristics of the Paul Ricard circuit would not be ideally suited to our SF21.

"But once again, we were able to demonstrate that we are the best of those teams directly behind the two that are fighting for the championship. Furthermore, as in the three previous qualifying sessions, we got both our cars ahead of our direct rivals.

"Carlos is having a great weekend, showing that he is making progress, and his qualifying performance was really good. Charles couldn’t get the right feel for his car, especially the front end, but on his final run, he still managed to get close to the third row that could have been within his reach," Mekies said of his drivers.

On the day, Sainz was best of the Ferrari pair with a time of 1:30.840 which was eight tenths shy of Max Verstappen's pole-winning effort.

The Spaniard, who is increasingly comfortable in his new team, summed up his day: "Not a bad day for the team. After a couple of eventful Saturdays, it’s good to have a clean quali like today. We managed to extract everything out of the car and show the progress we have made at this type of track.

"From my side, I continue to adapt and learn from the different conditions and corners, and today I felt at home with the car no matter what compound I was on.

"We are in a good position for the race tomorrow and we’ll try to maximize every opportunity. Yesterday our race pace was not bad, but I expect a tight battle with our main competitors. A clean first lap and a good strategy will be essential to leave France with a good result," added Sainz.

Leclerc denied a hat-trick of poles for Ferrari, reported: "A tricky qualifying from my side. I didn’t do a good job of driving around the balance limitation of my car, which was on the front for me today.

"I will work to understand how I can adapt my driving style and manage this better in the race, although I think that we will feel it less tomorrow.

"Overall, 5th and 7th place are good results for the team and in line with our expectations. Congratulations to everyone and to Carlos who did a good job today. The race pace wasn’t too bad on Friday.

"There is definitely potential to fight for good positions in the race, and it will come down to us putting it all together," added Leclerc.

Final word to Mekies, who predicted: "The race will be long and difficult, with tyre behaviour playing a crucial role. On this front, the top ten are all starting on the same compound so we will be fighting on equal terms."