Ferrari saw Verstappen close in: "We were living on the edge"

"I think we felt we were more competitive than we looked on Saturday. We had good pace yesterday, but we weren’t able to really close the gap in those 23 laps because tyre deg hadn’t become a problem," Clear explains in the Formula 1 Nation podcast.

In a sprint race, the teams start with much less fuel, so there is less pressure on the tyres. On the Sunday, the race is run with full tanks, which allowed Ferrari to gain an advantage in tyre management. "I think that was the difference."

Ferrari were living on the edge

In the race, Charles Leclerc made no less than three overtakes on Verstappen. The Dutchman was suffering a lot from degradation and could not keep up with the pace of the Ferrari driver. However, in the closing stages of the race, the Monegasque suffered a problem with his accelerator, threatening his P1.

"We were living on the edge, weren’t we? He wasn’t getting the braking he wanted so he was just braking early and leaving himself a bit of margin. But of course, when you’ve got Verstappen behind you on the same tyres closing in, you have to make a judgement on how much you will back off," Clear says. In the end, Leclerc still crossed the finish line first.