Nico Rosberg has Ferrari worry after Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc to Imola pole

Mercedes: What’s gone wrong at the F1 and can they recover?

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Nico Rosberg has warned Sunday’s race could be ‘difficult’ for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc as Max Verstappen took victory in the sprint. The 2016 champion claimed the Ferrari’s tyre degradation was ‘very big’ at the end of the race which handed Verstappen an advantage.

In the closing stages, the Dutchman was able to close on Leclerc by around two-tenths per lap as the Ferrari’s tyres struggled for grip. Rosberg told Sky Sports F1: “That certainly is quite a worry for Ferrari because the tyre degradation was very big at the end there and the lap time difference between the two was quite significant.

“That will make it difficult for them tomorrow. And Verstappen, that is just typical, so relentless and that is why he is one of those guys that you least want to see in your rear views rears going bigger and bigger because that guy is going attack giving it 100 per cent.”

Verstappen was beaten off the line by Leclerc and initially appeared to struggle to keep up with the current championship leader.

The gap was stable at just over a second before the Ferrari started to pick up some tyre degradation. This enabled the reigning champion to hunt down the Monegasque with a handful of laps remaining.

He eventually made the move stick at Tamburello with two laps to go and managed to pull away to secure the win. After the race, Leclerc pointed out Ferrari’s disadvantage and warned it was something the team would address.

He said: “It’s still a front-row start. We struggled with the tyres at the end, so we need to analyse that for tomorrow. We need to make sure that we’re ready.

DON’T MISS
Max Verstappen pips Charles Leclerc to pole by winning Imola GP sprint [INSIGHT]
Charles Leclerc wants answers after losing Imola sprint to Verstappen [ANALYSIS]
Max Verstappen dig at Lewis Hamilton ahead of Emilia Romagna Sprint [COMMENT]

“The pace was good until then, we started to have some draining on the front left and lost it towards the end. That’s life, we’ll go to work and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Verstappen added: “Yeah the start was really bad, I don’t know why, maybe too much wheelspin. I think Charles ran out of tyres, today it worked out for us to be on this compound but I don’t know about tomorrow.

“I’m of course happy about today, but tomorrow might be a bit different.”

Source: Read Full Article