Charles Leclerc reflects on a disappointing qualification in Qatar. The Monegasque, unlike teammate Lewis Hamilton, made it to Q2, but fell short in the final qualifying session; he failed to keep up with the leaders and ended up in P10. Leclerc had to concede over one second to the time of polesitter Oscar Piastri. The Ferrari driver is already describing the weekend as ‘incredibly difficult’.
Leclerc has been struggling with the drivability of his Ferrari all week. In Q3, his SF-25 even spun out, preventing him from competing for the top positions. For now, he has little confidence that the problems will be resolved before the race. The media asked him to summarize his qualification afterwards. “Incredibly difficult day, incredibly difficult weekend,” the Monegasque responded dejectedly. “I really don’t know what to say.”
‘There’s no pace in this car’
“It’s been incredibly difficult to keep this car on the track,” he continued. “I’m doing everything I can to get the most out of it, but at this point, this is really the best I can do. It’s frustrating. All I can do is reset and try to come back motivated; maybe then I can do something special. But am I optimistic for tomorrow? No, and that rarely happens.” According to Leclerc, the Ferrari simply lacks pace: “Normally I’m very optimistic, but this weekend there’s just no speed in the car.”
He concludes with a hefty dose of realism. “I hope it goes better in the race, but nothing I’ve felt with this car so far makes me think it will suddenly be good,” he concluded disappointedly. “I’ll wait and see and try to get the most out of it. Maybe we’ll get a bit of luck with a safety car or something; that’s probably my only hope for tomorrow.”
