Charles Leclerc is far from satisfied with his qualifying result in Las Vegas. Although the Monegasque driver has fared significantly better than his teammate Lewis Hamilton – the Brit ended up in P20 – Leclerc saw a familiar problem resurface at Ferrari during rainy conditions: ‘We have a tremendous difficulty finding grip in these kinds of conditions.’
While teammate Lewis Hamilton was already out of the Las Vegas qualifying in Q1, Charles Leclerc was able to somewhat salvage Ferrari’s honor by making it to Q3. However, the Monegasque was also not satisfied with his achieved result: Leclerc will start the Las Vegas Grand Prix from the ninth position, after he had to concede two seconds to the time of pole sitter Lando Norris.
According to Leclerc, there can only be one conclusion drawn after the rain-soaked session: Ferrari’s problems under wet race conditions are far from over. “Unfortunately, we at Ferrari have huge problems in the rain, and we haven’t really found a solution yet,” the Monegasque concludes gloomily in Las Vegas. “It’s not that we’re not trying our best, because we’ve worked our tails off, but it just doesn’t work.”
‘Hugely frustrating’
This is not the first time that problems in the rain have surfaced at Ferrari. “It’s been like this since I joined the team,” Leclerc reveals. “We have a tremendous difficulty finding grip in these kinds of conditions. It’s hugely frustrating, because it was probably my biggest strength in the junior categories and now…”, the Monegasque doesn’t finish his sentence. “We’re doing something wrong. I have no idea what it is, because we’ve completely overhauled the car. It’s just incredibly difficult to find grip with our car.”
