Charles Leclerc has revealed how an alternative power strategy in qualifying stopped Ferrari from taking a stronger result than third at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Ferrari began the weekend at Imola on an encouraging note as Leclerc utilised the team’s updated SF-24 car to complete a clean sweep in the first two practice hours.
However, the Italian marque slipped behind McLaren in FP3 and a resurgent Max Verstappen pipped them all to pole position, with Leclerc fourth in the leading Ferrari.
Both Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz rued Ferrari losing too much ground through the opening sector, a recurring theme amid the squad’s tyre warm-up struggles.
But Leclerc has pinpointed the straight-line speed deficit the Maranello-based team carried down the start-finish straight towards Tamburello as the grandest problem.
“Looking back at yesterday, reanalyzing qualifying, I think we basically lost everything at the launch for some reason,” Leclerc detailed.
“We had a slightly different power strategy compared to McLaren and Red Bull, and we lost everything on the run down to Turn 2.
“Max, on top of that, had the slipstream [from Nico Hulkenberg].
“But this is something we’ll have to look into because, especially on a track like this, track position is absolutely everything.
“And when you only have a tenth between Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves, we need to do everything perfect. The third place today cost us maybe a better result in the race.”
Leclerc would mount a minor attack on Lando Norris in the nascent stages of the second stint, but the McLaren racer soon accelerated clear to challenge Verstappen.
Despite landing Ferrari’s first podium at Imola since Michael Schumacher won in 2006, Leclerc was adamant that he was not pleased to end up seven seconds behind.
“It’s always very special to be on the podium here in Imola. However, obviously, I’m never satisfied with a P3,” Leclerc expressed.
“You always want to be on the top step of the podium, but considering everything, I think we have lost mostly what could have been yesterday in qualifying, and this we will analyze.
“But today in the race, as Lando said, I think we were all very, very close, and it was all about who was pushing when exactly in the race.”
