Charles Leclerc concedes that Ferrari remains “just too far away” at present after the team endured a disappointing Monaco Grand Prix.
Ferrari arrived in Monaco hoping to rebound from a tough race in Miami last time out that maintained the Scuderia’s poor start to 2023.
But expectations were, including from those down at Red Bull, that the Maranello side’s SF-23 car would provide a more competitive proposition around the tight twists and turns of the Monte Carlo street circuit.
Although Leclerc was eventually able to qualify third, only a tenth off Max Verstappen’s pole time, the home favourite was later hit with a three-place grid drop for impeding Lando Norris in the latter stages of Q3, dropping him back to sixth.
Despite a race that featured changing weather conditions in the closing stages, Leclerc was unable to move up the order from his starting grid slot.
Asked if his race prospects were destroyed by the penalty, Leclerc replied: “Yeah, exactly. After [qualifying], the three grid places penalty, starting sixth there wasn’t much more [I could do].
“The pace wasn’t great today. I mean, it was actually quite good on the hard. On the slicks it was good, but there is nothing to do here,” he continued. “It was basically a waiting game and then, when we started to push, the tyres had gone away a little bit.”
Ferrari’s decision to gamble on the ensuing chaos the rain brought causing the introduction of a full course or Virtual Safety Car saw Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz lose out positions when the pair eventually came in for intermediates a lap later than those directly around them.
While George Russell in the Mercedes picked up a five-second time penalty, Leclerc was unable to bridge the gap as Ferrari struggled massively in the slippery conditions.
With Leclerc coming home sixth and Sainz eighth, both Ferrari drivers were beaten to the chequered flag by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and the two Mercedes cars, as well as Esteban Ocon in third for Alpine.
“We are not happy where we are,” the Monegasque driver added. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to recover performance, because for now we’re just too far away.”
Ferrari’s lowly points return from Monaco means it remains rooted to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, 29 points behind Mercedes, who sit a solitary point behind Aston Martin.
Meanwhile, Sainz and Leclerc, last season’s vice-champion, occupy sixth and seventh positions in the Drivers’ standings respectively.
After admitting Ferrari has a lot of work ahead to reduce the gap to the teams ahead, Leclerc will be hopeful that the Italian outfit’s vast set of upgrades set to debut at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix can deliver the foundation towards achieving that.
Aside from the need to extract more performance with the new parts, Leclerc will be aiming to see strides made towards improving the driveability of the SF-23.
Both Ferrari drivers have consistently complained throughout this season of battling an unpredictable car, with Leclerc making set-up changes in Monaco right up until the end of FP3 to counteract a poorly handling package around his home circuit.
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