Leclerc admits Ferrari ‘nowhere near’ Mercedes as Hamilton explains issue that hampered Australia Qualifying efforts
Charles Leclerc has admitted that Ferrari are “nowhere near Mercedes” after ending some eight-tenths behind the pole-sitting Silver Arrow of George Russell throughout Australian Grand Prix Qualifying.
Leclerc headed into the weekend struggle of mercedes‘potential, and his fears have been realized throughout closing apply and Qualifying, the place Russel and Kimi Antonelli unleashed a formidable degree of pace.
Leclerc finally took fourth, with group mate Lewis Hamilton again in seventh – the Ferraris sandwiching the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and reigning World Champion Lando Norris.
After Qualifying, Leclerc was requested if he felt shocked by the hole to Mercedes, and annoyed at not with the ability to safe P3 on the grid, with Red Bull‘s Isaac Hadjar slotting forward on the finish of Q3.
“Frustration about P3, for sure,” Leclerc replied. “I will not go into the element, as a result of it is a very complicated automotive to elucidate, however in Q2 we had points with our deployment.
“Then in Q3, because of the red flag, we had to re-optimise everything on that last lap, and we couldn’t quite make that. We were a bit sub-optimal for that last lap, and that definitely cost us P3.
“We have been nowhere close to Mercedes. Maybe optimizing all the things we might have a tenth-and-a-half, however I’m fairly positive that’s additionally the story of everyone. [These are] such complicated vehicles that no one, I might anticipate, was optimizing completely all the things out of the automotive at present.
“On the opposite query, I’m not so shocked. I used to be in entrance of the cameras yesterday, I do not know if I mentioned the quantity, however I assumed they have been possibly half a second forward, and in the long run they’re eight-tenths in entrance.
“I think this morning I did not expect what they’ve shown, and I think they were a lot more turned down than what everyone thought in the paddock. At the same time it’s… We can only respect what they’ve done with the engine, and the amount of performance they found compared to others.”
Pushed on whether or not he and Ferrari could make an impression on Mercedes in race trim, the Monegasque added: “I cannot do anything. Yesterday they were super, super strong. I don’t think they had the engine turned up the way they did this morning. I don’t even know if they were full power in Qualifying, maybe they kept a little bit, because this morning was just crazy.
“Tomorrow I don’t really know what to expect, but I think they will be in another world – probably a little bit less than a second [a lap] faster than everybody else. “That’s what I would expect, but I hope I’m wrong.”
On the opposite aspect of the Ferrari storage, Hamilton was a tenth-and-a-half slower than Leclerc as he rued engine hassle halfway by way of Qualifying.
“The whole weekend was looking good up until Q2,” he defined. “Q1 on the medium tire was feeling stable, and I used to be feeling nice, then we went into Q2 and we had some issues with our engine.
“We ended up having to come back in, and that put a whole lot of stress on us to need to exit and try to execute with one lap, on a tire that we hadn’t pushed but, at the very least in Qualifying, and that was tough. Then we went into Q3 and it was only a mess for everyone, so it was a bit random.
“I think there’s a lot more performance in the car and we just didn’t execute it all perfectly. Honestly, I think if it had gone perfectly, we could have been third today.”
