Charles Leclerc feels Ferrari’s upgrades have brought them no closer to their Formula 1 rivals. The Italians arrived at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with more new parts for their cars but still they could not find an improvement in qualifying on Saturday.
Leclerc was fourth quickest as he again struggled to match the pace of the McLaren cars. Max Verstappen reached pole position while George Russell was third quickest in the Mercedes, but still Ferrari do not seem to be in a position to be competing for the front row.
For Lewis Hamilton, the situation is even worse as his qualifying woes continue. He could only managed to secure seventh place on the grid and, in reality, had Lando Norris not crashed in Q3, both Ferrari drivers would likely have each been a grid slot further down.
Leclerc offered a worrying review of his team’s upgrades as he reflected on another frustrating qualifying result. “I’m not happy, I am really not happy,” said the Monegasque.
“I mean, I finished P4 and I put everything out there, but for now, the performance of the car is just not there. I either have massive oversteer or massive understeer, but the end result is that I don’t have enough grip to reproduce what the guys in front are doing.
“At the moment, I feel good in the car, I’ve found the sweet spot of the car and matched my driving style, and in the last three qualifying sessions, I’ve managed to maximise the potential of the car – but the potential is just not yet at the level I want.
“The gap [to Ferrari’s rivals] is that which we’d expect from the beginning of the season, but I am disappointed here because we had some upgrades which should have helped for sure.
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
As well as Sky Sports access, this includes more than 100 TV channels and free subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+.
“But the gap seems to be pretty similar to before, and I feel like the others have done as much of a step, which means the gap hasn’t really changed.”
It is a worrying situation for both Ferrari drivers. Leclerc is at least able to largely maximise the capability of his car right now, but Hamilton continues to find it difficult to adjust to his red racing machine and his qualifying form especially has left a lot to be desired.
“The lap was bad,” Hamilton said about his qualifying performance in Jeddah. “Every time I get to Q3, all the hard work kind of disappears. It’s not the end of the world, but there is tonnes of time just sitting there that I’m not extracting.
“Losing two-tenths just in the last sector, three tenths in the first sector, a tenth in the middle sector. It’s just not good enough. I know that the fans aren’t happy. I’m sure the team are not happy. I know the bosses are not happy.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
