Leclerc realistic after disappointing qualifying in China: "Compared to the others, we have gone backwards"

Charles Leclerc struggled to find his feet in China this weekend. On a track he doesn't particularly like, the Monegasque driver was unable to find the right recipe to fight for pole position this Saturday. Relegated behind Lewis Hamilton Since the start of the weekend – with a victory for the Briton in the Sprint – the 27-year-old driver has again failed behind his teammate in qualifying, at the end of a disappointing session for the TeamLewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc respectively set the 5th and 6th times in Q3, with the Monegasque less than a tenth behind the Englishman.

At the microphone of Canal+, Charles Leclerc did not hide his disappointment, but also his fatalism in the face of this rather average performance for the men in red. According to him, the delay on McLaren is still consistent despite a final clear lap in Q3, and the number 16 appeared pessimistic given the pace of his rivals in Shanghai. While he suspected he would not be at the front of the grid in China, the eight-time Grand Prix winner sees the gap to his main rivals still too large. Nevertheless, the pace shown during the Sprint gives the Monegasque a little hope in this rather anonymous weekend.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 6th in qualifying for the Chinese GP : "Clearly, compared to the others, we've fallen back. The feeling was better, but the others have improved more than us. After Australia, I felt like if we'd put everything together in qualifying, we would have been three tenths behind. Today, we put everything together, and unfortunately, there are still those three tenths. For now, that's where we are compared to the McLarens and the others."

"We still have a lot of work to do, that's clear and simple. Afterwards, as I said this morning, I wasn't expecting a miracle in qualifying because, for my part, I'm not at my best on this track. I'm nevertheless satisfied because I put everything I had into that lap. I don't think there was much more..."

"I went a little bit [towards Lewis Hamilton's setup] and the feeling improved. After that, once again, it's not enough. There's still the race on [Sunday], we showed a good performance this morning, especially at the end of the stint. It's sure to be more complicated with the cars in front. We'll try to make the most of it and see where it takes us."

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