Ferrari's fortunes on home ground failed to improve on Saturday with the Scuderia suffering its worst qualifying at Monza since 1984, the last time both red cars failed to make the top-ten.
Charles Leclerc will line up 13th on Sunday's grid while Sebastian Vettel, who failed to make the Q2 cut, will start the Italian Grand Prix a lowly P17, the worst position for a Ferrari at Monza since… 1962!
There was no sugar-coating the House of Maranello's dismal performance which follows last weekend's mediocre Saturday showing, with Leclerc unsurprised by the team's struggles.
"At the end we expected it a little bit coming into this weekend," Leclerc told Sky F1.
"We know that Spa and here are probably the two worst tracks for us, with another one probably a bit later in the year. It's like this, it's tough, because once you do a good lap and you do P13, it doesn't feel good.
"For now it's like this, and I need to extract the maximum out of the car in the situation we are in, and that's what I try to do."
Leclerc is nevertheless expecting some improvement next week at Ferrari's second race on home turf.
"Surely, it hurts even more once it's at home. It's a reality at the moment for us unfortunately. We need to work, and hopefully for Mugello, which is still home for Ferrari, we'll be a bit better.
"I hope that from next race onwards we'll see a light at the end of the tunnel, because that's two very tough weekends for us, where we are trying things on the car.
"We don't find a way through for now, we need to keep our head down, stay motivated, and better days will be coming."
Vettel's run in Q1 was compromised from the outset as the German driver found himself engulfed in a group of cars messily overtaking each other which in turn deprived him of a clear lap.
"There was no point to start overtaking each other," said a frustrated Vettel.
"There's the minimum time, so it should be that everyone is making it. The moment you start overtaking, it's causing trouble. That's what it was."
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