Charles Leclerc knows Ferrari will have to “push” against McLaren despite claiming P4 on the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Scuderia has been consistently at the front of the midfield all weekend at Imola, with the Monegasque consolidating that performance by finishing ‘best of the rest’ behind Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bulls in qualifying.
“It felt good, I was actually quite frustrated after my fast lap because I lost a little bit of time at the Variante Alta,” Leclerc told Sky Sports.
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“I took the kerb in the wrong way and lost seven-eight hundredths, I was expecting to lose two or three positions because we are all so close.
“At the end P4, and we couldn’t have gone P3, it wasn’t enough today.”
However, the Ferrari driver acknowledged he should have been one place further back on the grid for Sunday’s race.
“Happy overall with our performance but we need to push because the guy that was sitting on my chair just before [Lando Norris] did an incredible lap time,” he noted.
“The two centimetres where he went off track didn’t make him gain any time. He’s done a great job and McLaren is really pushing so it’s going to be a good fight all over the year and we have to be ready for it and push.”
Still, Leclerc’s best lap only put him three-tenths off the pole set by Lewis Hamilton, and after a strong race run on Friday, could he be a dark horse on Sunday?
“Looking at tracks like this where we are only three tenths out in qualifying, it looks like we could but I have to say it’s quite strange this weekend,” he said.
“We are all so close and especially so close to the top teams. It gives us hope for tomorrow even though they have a bit more to come in the race.”
Even so: “There is a lot of motivation in the team, a good momentum,” Leclerc added.
“We need to use it and continue to work as hard as possible as a team, keep our feet on the ground and continue to push as we have been doing for the past months.
“Then I am sure the good days are soon to come.”
As for teammate Carlos Sainz, he admits single-lap pace remains his biggest weakness as he settles in at Ferrari after just missing out on Q3 in P11.
“It was a bad day in the office for me,” he said. “I felt quick all weekend, but always felt like I couldn’t put the lap together and qualifying exposed it.
“I was just a bit all over the place, never really being able to put a corner together during the whole lap.
“So, I’m disappointed because I know the lap time was there if I do a good job, I know I could have gone to Q3, but at the same time I think this track has exposed us a bit in that I still lack a bit of mileage, a bit of understanding from the car to exactly know what to expect and how to extract the absolute limit from it.”
With free tyre choice to start the race, however, Sainz is confident of being more competitive across the 63-lap Grand Prix.
“Into tomorrow, I’m always a bit of a Sunday driver,” he said. “I like doing a better job on Sunday and I’m quite confident in that regard and I’m sure I can move forward tomorrow.”