Ferrari's Charles Leclerc says he was quite happy with his final effort in qualifying at Suzuka on Saturday, but admitted that ending up just P4 was "a bit of a shame".
Tyre degradation has been a hot topic all weekend at Suzuka, which has encouraged teams to manage their allocations with caution with an eye on what could be a three-stop race on Sunday.
While poleman Max Verstappen made the most of being the only driver to have three sets of new C3 softs going into qualifying, Ferrari was forced to manage the session more frugally, with Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz only indulging in a single flyer in Q3.
The Monegasque clocked in fourth, outpacing Sainz, who was sixth fastest in Q3, for the first time in three races.
"Happy’s a big word, but happy with my own performance yes, because I think it was a really, really good lap and I don’t think there was much left in that lap so that was great," Leclerc said when asked if he was content with his efforts.
"I mean it’s only P4 so that’s a bit of a shame.
"It feels amazing, but it’s a bit disappointing when you finish such a great lap and then you’re P4, seven-tenths off too.
"So yeah, it’s good but it could be more enjoyable if we were fighting for top positions."
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Verstappen is clearly in a league of his own at Suzuka where Red Bull has resumed its dominance. Leclerc singled out Suzuka's opening sector as the area where he was losing out relative to Verstappen and the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris that preceded him in Q3.
"It’s crazy, they’ve [Red Bull] been really on it," he said. "Straight from FP1 we understood there was quite a bit of work to do, especially in sector one for some reason, because in sector one we are basically losing most of the time we are losing around the lap
"So this we need to look into because it might help us to understand where we need to work and where our car is weak at the moment.
"Also if you look compared to the McLaren that’s where we’ve been struggling. Just on that lap in Q3 I did a really good sector one, but we’re still far off so we need to work on that."
Leclerc reckons he'll struggle to fend off Sergio Perez who will line up fifth on Sunday's grid, while challenging both McLarens could also prove difficult.
"I think the Red Bulls will be very good, because as much as there was quite a big difference between Max and Checo in the low fuel I think in the high fuel they were much closer together, so I expect Checo to be quicker tomorrow," he said.
"The McLaren we are much closer to them in terms of race pace, but they will probably have free air so it’s going to be difficult to overtake them… but maybe with strategy or at the start, so let’s see."
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Suzuka is enjoying a spell of warm weather this weekend, and the stats indicate that's it's the hottest it's ever been on a Grand Prix weekend at the Honda-owned track.
And that's a factor that will put a premium on tyre management in Sunday's race as Leclerc noted, even if the Scuderia has made progress on the degradation front lately.
"Yes, especially with the very warm temperatures this year the overheating is really, really bad, so I expect it will be all about the tyre management tomorrow and the strategy", he added.
"It looks like we’re going in the right direction [regarding tyre wear], but let’s wait and see tomorrow and try and confirm that."
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