Nico Rosberg thinks one Formula 1 team will be ‘disappointed’ with their two drivers after qualifying for the 2024 Chinese GP given their ‘huge’ deficit to Max Verstappen.
The Shanghai International Circuit saw Verstappen give Red Bull their 100th pole position in Formula 1 on Saturday. He topped qualifying for the Chinese GP with a 1:33.660 Q3 lap. The 26-year-old and teammate Sergio Perez were also the only drivers to post times in the 1:33s.
Verstappen has also secured pole position at each of the first five Grand Prix in 2024. A host of rivals lined up to try to deny the Dutchman his first P1 start in the Jiading District. But the Ferrari pair, the McLaren duo, Fernando Alonso and Perez all fell short of beating his Q3 run.
Nico Rosberg thinks Ferrari will be ‘disappointed’ with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz
Perez came closest to Verstappen’s time but was miles from denying his Red Bull teammate a 37th career pole position. The 34-year-old gave the Milton Keynes outfit a front-row lock-out with a 1:33.982. Alonso was the best of the rest for Aston Martin with his 1:34.148 lap.
The McLaren duo of Lando Norris (1:34.165) and Oscar Piastri (1:34.273) also bettered what Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc (1:34.289) and Carlos Sainz (1:34.297) achieved. They will start in P4, 5, 6 and 7 for the Chinese GP, which Rosberg claims was not good enough for Ferrari.
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Rosberg believes Ferrari will be ‘disappointed’ that Leclerc was their lead driver yet he faced a gap of 0.629 to Verstappen’s pole time at the Chinese GP. The 26-year-old and Sainz were even closer to Valtteri Bottas, who secured P10 for Sauber with a lap time of 1:34.665 in Q3.
“I think those who were disappointed were Ferrari,” Rosberg noted on Sky Sports F1 (20/04, 09:15).” [They were] surprisingly far off. I mean, six-tenths and a bit off from Verstappen, that is a huge gap.”
Ferrari fall to their biggest qualifying deficit to Red Bull in 2024 at the Chinese GP
Leclerc and Sainz only qualifying for the Chinese GP in P6 and P7 will leave the Ferrari pilots with a tough task to secure their 33rd or 22nd podiums in Formula 1 to date on Sunday. Yet it was still not Leclerc’s worst qualifying result this year after his P8 start at the Japanese GP.
At least Sainz managed P4 at Suzuka but his deficit was still 0.485s to Verstappen’s pole lap. So, to now fall even further off Red Bull’s pace in Shanghai will leave Ferrari disappointed, as Rosberg suggests. The Scuderia, after all, had a car on the front row at the first three races.
Leclerc finished second in qualifying for the season-opening Bahrain GP with Ferrari facing a deficit of 0.228s to Verstappen. The Monegasque also finished second to the Red Bull driver at the Saudi Arabian GP by 0.319s, before Sainz got second for the Australian GP by 0.270s.
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