Leclerc disappointed by his 4th place at Monza: “Another weekend below the performances expected”

Like every year, Ferrari had bet a lot on this Italian weekend in Monza. On home soil, the Reds wanted to make it three after the pole positions of Charles Leclerc and in 2022 Carlos Sainz in 2023. Unfortunately, neither of them were able to reproduce this performance, with a group shot at 4th and 5th place on the starting grid of the Italian GP. A disappointment for the Italian clan who had brought specific developments for the Temple of Speed ​​on its SF-24…

Despite promising Free Practice, the Monegasque faltered during the qualifying sessions. In Q2, his first lap on new tyres was only good for the 7th fastest time, a warning sign that pole position might be difficult to achieve. A fear that was confirmed in Q3: even if Charles Leclerc failed to take pole position by less than two tenths of a second, Lando Norris, he will only start 4th on Sunday. Speaking to Canal+, the six-time Grand Prix winner was visibly frustrated by his team's performance in the face of increasingly dense and fierce competition.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 4th in qualifying at Monza : “Not fast enough… Frustrated because we had problems in Turns 1 and 2 all weekend and we couldn’t solve it. We couldn’t have expected better. Very disappointed, but that’s how it is.”

"We looked more or less in line with the others [teams] on the long runs, so we're not doing any better than the others, that's for sure. Afterwards, of course, we can still play our cards tomorrow because we're all very close in terms of pace but well... The frustration is there, especially here at Monza where we're bringing in developments specifically for this circuit and even with that, it's not enough to go for the McLaren. As I said before the weekend, there is still a lot of work to do. A weekend once again below the expected performances.

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