Leclerc lays bare Ferrari’s struggles in Qatar – Hamilton on mute

Charles Leclerc cut a frustrated figure under the Lusail floodlights on Friday evening, openly acknowledging that Ferrari face yet another uphill battle this weekend after he could manage only P9 in Sprint Qualifying.

With Lewis Hamilton down in P18 in the sister car, the team’s Qatar campaign has begun on the back foot – and both drivers were strikingly candid about the scale of their difficulties.

Leclerc’s path through the one-hour session was far cleaner than Hamilton’s, yet it still unraveled in key moments. The Monegasque reached SQ3, only to find himself compromised by the preparation lap of Carlos Sainz’s Williams ahead.

"The last lap I think [Sainz] was taking quite a significant gap to the car ahead just before Safety Car line 2 and then obviously it puts all the guys behind under stress," Leclerc explained.

"He has the right to do that but it's very annoying and it's a bit unnecessary sometimes. It's a shame."

Bad Timing… But Deeper Issues

Forced to start his push lap closer than ideal, Leclerc admitted the timing didn’t help – but he was clear that the problem runs deeper than traffic games.

"I had to start the lap too close and when you see the gap between the top five and us, you can say that could have been a better Qualifying."

"But apart from that, we are very slow and we are struggling once again this weekend. It's a tough one again."

The tight margins inside SQ3 made the disappointment sting even more.

"I think it was a few hundredths to Yuki [Tsunoda] in P5 or a tenth, something like that. I think there was potential to do that. On the other hand, we've been struggling... it's been a difficult weekend so far."

Ferrari, winless so far this season slipping further from the front, now find themselves 13 points behind Red Bull and 53 adrift of Mercedes in the Constructors’ standings — pressure that will only intensify if Saturday’s Sprint brings more pain.

Hamilton Dejected... Again

If Leclerc was detailed and analytical, Hamilton went in the opposite direction – curt, deflated, and visibly fed up. The Briton fell at the first hurdle in SQ1, unable to extract performance from a Ferrari that looked unsettled from the moment it hit the track in FP1.

When Sky Sports F1 asked for his thoughts, Hamilton kept it brutally short.

"Same as always," he said after stepping from the car.

The seven-time champion had requested a switch to a high-downforce setup ahead of qualifying, hoping it might offer some comfort or stability for the Sprint. But when asked whether the change gave him optimism for Saturday, his answer was just as brief.

"No, [not] good enough."

And when queried whether the Sprint would simply serve as a testing session given his lowly grid slot, Hamilton ended the interview with a wry shrug.

"The weather’s nice."

• Read also: Leclerc opens up on his limits helping Hamilton at Ferrari

Ferrari entered Qatar hoping for a reset after difficult weekends in São Paulo and Las Vegas. Instead, they concluded Friday with more questions than answers – a team searching for pace, consistency, and confidence at a track that has so far offered none of the three.

Leclerc’s honesty and Hamilton’s bluntness painted the same picture: Ferrari had a long night ahead if they wanted to rescue anything meaningful from Saturday’s Sprint and the Grand Prix beyond.

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