Leclerc 'quite surprised' by P4 qualifying pace

Charles Leclerc admitted to being "quite surprised" by his P4 performance in qualifying at the Eifel GP, Ferrari's best result since the British GP earlier this year.

The aerodynamic deficiencies of the Scuderia's 2020 car coupled with a down-on-power engine relative to its rivals has pushed Ferrari down the order and into the thick of F1's midfield.

But recent updates appear to have improved the overall pace of the Italian outfit's SF1000, although Leclerc could not pinpoint the exact reason behind his performance in qualifying.

"I don't really know, I'm quite surprised, especially with this weather I expected us to struggle," said the Monegasque.

"From the beginning of the season we are struggling to make the tyres work whenever it's cold, and today it seems that it worked out for us.

"So very happy and very happy with my last lap. I put everything together and P4 is great."

Leclerc reckons the team's latest upgrades are slowly but surely taking hold, but the two-time Grand Prix winner also noted Ferrari's SF1000 is responding to change.

"Surely there were some upgrades this week that worked in the proper way," he said. "We are not trying to find an update that is giving a huge amount of lap time but just small differences every weekend which is for now working well

"And every time we are bringing something on the car, it's working, which was not the case in the past. So this is very important and it helps us be on the solid basis of the car."

Despite Ferrari's improvements, Sebastian Vettel missed the Q3 cut in qualifying. Asked if he knew where he was gaining an edge over his teammate, Leclerc said: "I don't really know to be honest.

"I mean today especially I think the first sector was quite competitive, but he's a four-time world champion and I'm pretty sure that he will come back where he deserves to be.

"At the moment I'm focusing on myself, I'm trying to push the car as much as possible and it's working pretty well for me."

• Read also: Vettel snaps up shares of Aston Martin ahead of 2021

Leclerc steered clear of offering a forecast on his prospects for Sunday given the lack of running ahead of tomorrow's race which could open the door to a few surprises up and down the field.

"It's going to be a very interesting race because we all go a bit into the unknown," he commented.

"We haven't done any high-fuel runs yet, so it's going to be important to take care of those tyres and to try and anticipate as much as possible which axle will degrade first. This is where I will focus tomorrow.

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