Ferrari hopeful for the Grand Prix: 'That's where our priority is'

Although Ferrari are second in the World Championship, the Italian team's speed was disappointing during the sprint shootout. Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari's team boss, says after the session that the focus is on Sunday's Grand Prix.

Besides Red Bull, Ferrari have been consistently on the podium. For Saturday's sprint race in China, Carlos Sainz will start from fifth place and Charles Leclerc from seventh. Frederic Vasseur does not yet fully understand why the speed fell short during the sprint shootout. "It is true that the conditions were very treacherous with very little grip and we struggled to warm up the tyres, but that was the same for everyone. We have to understand if we can do something different, but it was the first time the car was in these extreme conditions," he told the Italian branch of Motorsport.com.

Ferrari has put their focus on the Grand Prix

Ferrari's team is the only one with an extra set of medium and hard tyres against the rest of the competition. "This means we have a wider choice of tyres tomorrow. Let's hope they are enough to make a good decision tonight and be in contention tomorrow," Vasseur said of Saturday's sprint race.

The Italian team have chosen to perhaps compensate for the sprint race in order to have an advantage in the race on Sunday. "Since the beginning of the weekend, we have put our priority on Sunday and we do not want to change our approach," said the Ferrari team boss.