Leclerc: Ferrari simply ‘lacking pace’ relative to rivals

Charles Leclerc didn’t bother to single out a specific reason for Ferrari’s shortfall in qualifying in Hungary, candidly admitting that its SF-24 is simply lacking overall pace relative to its McLaren and Red Bull rivals.

Leclerc clocked in sixth at the end of Saturday’s shootout, two spots behind teammate Carlos Sainz and 0.678s adrift from poleman Lando Norris.

Like several of his colleagues, the Monegasque’s final effort in Q3 was disrupted by a red flag triggered by Yuki Tsunoda’s crash, while he also had to make do with a single set of the soft compound, contrary to Sainz who had managed to save two sets for the final segment of qualifying.

Leclerc admitted that he had not executed the cleanest lap in Q3, but pointed to his car’s overall lack of pace – even in the cooler conditions – as the main culprit of another subdued performance.

• Read also: Ferrari perseveres with new floor in Hungary, but with changes

“I think the picture was very similar to what we expected yesterday. And yeah, we are just lacking some pace at the moment,” he said.

“I think the best result for the team could have been P4-P5. I didn’t do the lap of my life and in the last corner I lost a few hundredths which cost me the P5.

“But apart from that, there wasn’t much more on the table.

“So, we’ve got to work because obviously it’s clear that we are lacking some pace against McLaren and the Red Bull. And we are pretty similar with Mercedes.”

Leclerc reckoned that on paper fourth and fifth would likely be the maximum the Italian outfit would be able to achieve in Sunday’s race.

Yes, I think so,” he said. “With the warm weather it might change and obviously the tyre management will be a big thing. So, we’ve got to work on that and prepare for that.”

The revised floor introduced by Ferrari in Hungary aimed to mitigate the SF-24’s bouncing issues at high speed, but the Hungaroring’s twisty layout offered only a limited assessment of the changes.

However, Leclerc still noted a partial improvement of the SF-24’s handling.

“In some characteristics, yes,” he said. “But obviously for now we are still quite a long way behind McLaren and Red Bull.

“So, there’s a lot of work we need to do still. But we are aware of it and I know the team is giving it all. But yeah, it improves some characteristics.”

While Ferrari was forced to experiment with setups at Silverstone in a bid to solve its bouncing issues, Leclerc stressed that the Italian outfit prioritized getting the most out of the car this weekend.

“I think also coming into the weekend I knew that we need more to get back to the level of McLaren and Red Bull,” he added.

“But I think the best thing we could do this weekend is to instead of keep experimenting and not maximising our weekend, it was very important for us to maximise this weekend.

“Which honestly I think we did. The biggest problem now is that we don’t have the performance to do much better. So, that’s where we’ll focus on in the development for the future.”

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