A bitter 4th place for Charles Leclerc on the starting grid

There is one topic that is slowly becoming worrying in Ferrari : Will the SF-25 be able, at some point during the season, to compete for pole positions and wins on a regular basis? For the moment, in any case, there is no question of the Reds aiming for the moon. If Lewis Hamilton struggled to find his rhythm all weekend in Jeddah, Charles Leclerc has extracted every thousandth of its carAt least, that's the argument the Monegasque puts forward to explain his frustration at finishing 4th, after some perfect laps.

"It's still disappointing. But it's been like this since the beginning of the season. We haven't had the performance we wanted.", the Ferrari driver complains to Canal+. The lap was very good despite a very complicated car to drive. I managed to do my best, but unfortunately the performance wasn't there. We're still 0 seconds behind the best. We have to work."

Despite his disappointment, Charles Leclerc was the shining light for Ferrari in a weekend where his teammate was not performing well. Lewis Hamilton finished 7th, 0 seconds behind. Max VerstappenAbove all, the seven-time champion conceded more than half a second to his teammate: a gap unworthy of his rank, which attests both to his difficulties and to the performance of Charles Leclerc, who did the maximum possible.

Leclerc is frustrated, lacking a car capable of fighting for pole position 

“Honestly, on all the laps I've done since we decided to go this way, I'm happy with my performance, note number 16. The car's balance is good, but what we're lacking is grip in general. On the one hand, it's a positive, because it allows me to extract the maximum from the car every time I'm behind the wheel, but paradoxically it's even more disappointing when you do the maximum, you know you've had a good lap, but the car just doesn't have any pace. In Turns 13 and 16, we had a lot of oversteer, for example. We just have to accept this situation for now and try to do the maximum tomorrow."

Starting 4th, Charles Leclerc is in a good position to secure Ferrari's first podium of the season. The Scuderia has still not received the honors of the protocol, and changing this dynamic would—somewhat—bring a smile back to its driver. However, Charles Leclerc isn't expecting miracles due to the characteristics of the Jeddah circuit.

"I don't expect much in the race. It's going to be very difficult to gain positions because it's a very fast track, so there's not much overtaking. But if we get off to a good start, why not?" hopes Leclerc, who will have to attack Russell, Verstappen and Piastres behind him.

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