Charles Leclerc has quipped that his Qatar Grand Prix was so “boring” that he was working out the permutations in the Formula 1 title battle inside his Ferrari cockpit.
Ferrari encountered a nightmare weekend in Lusail as a point-less Sprint Race preceded Leclerc coming eighth and team-mate Lewis Hamilton 12th in the Grand Prix.
Leclerc dropped back to 11th on the second lap when Nico Hulkenberg overtook him into Turn 1, but he gained two spots when Pierre Gasly clashed with the German.
However, Leclerc was unable to make up more ground until he inherited another spot in the closing stages when Isack Hadjar suffered a puncture on his Racing Bulls.
But despite salvaging points against his pre-race pessimism, the Monegasque elucidated that the SF-25’s handling improved little compared to earlier in the weekend.
“Yeah, I had no confidence in the car. I had no pace in the car. I had nothing in the car,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“I’m quite glad the weekend is over to be honest. It was a very frustrating race from the very first lap to the very last lap.
“Again, after what happened yesterday in the first lap I had no confidence and I didn’t know what was going to happen with the car in the first few laps.
“But there’s not been one lap where we’ve been competitive over the weekend, so it’s been very frustrating.”
When asked whether it had been a struggle to remain on the track, Leclerc, who sustained a dramatic spin during qualifying, answered: “Yeah, but not only in the race.
“In the race maybe a tiny bit easier, but the pace was not there. But in qualifying it was unbelievably difficult.
“Yeah, but not only in the race. In the race maybe a tiny bit easier, but the pace was not there. But in qualifying it was unbelievably difficult.”
Leclerc was calculating F1 title situation during Qatar GP
Leclerc highlighted that his race was so tedious that he was able to see what was happening elsewhere on the screens located around the Lusail International Circuit.
With Max Verstappen triumphing to keep his title hopes alive, the Ferrari driver remarked that he had the time in the car to calculate the situation in the championship.
“It’s a tough one. I think anything can happen when it’s that little points in between,” he assessed.
“I don’t know. It’s probably going to be between Lando [Norris] and Max, but anything can happen, especially with the tension that there will be.
“Incidents can play a huge part into it and they’re all fighting for positions.
“It’s been a very boring weekend for me, but I could follow on the screen a little bit of that and was trying to do the math in my head.
“At least that was the most exciting part of my race, apart from that [it] was very boring. I hope we have an exciting last race in Abu Dhabi.”
And while he recognised that the final race will be exciting with three drivers still in contention, Leclerc conveyed disappointment that he won’t be involved in the fight.
“When it goes like this, three-way battle into the last race, it’s great,” he acknowledged.
“I wish it was a full battle and that I would be involved, but I want to win. I want to be fighting at the top and it’s nice to see those battles, but it would be lovely if I could be part of it.”
Leclerc hopes Ferrari can end tough 2025 on a high
With Ferrari now consigned to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, Leclerc revealed that his target is to end the campaign on a high with a podium in Abu Dhabi.
Asked whether he is glad the campaign is coming to an end, he replied: “On one hand yes, but at the same time, I’m just really looking forward to Abu Dhabi and trying to finish the season on a more positive note and hoping to give us a little bit more happiness to go on holiday because it will be quite depressing to go on holiday with two weekends just like this weekend.”
“That would be very bad, so I hope we can have a better weekend.”
“I want to get it out of the way, but I want to get it out of the way in a positive way.
“I just want to do absolutely everything in order to extract whatever is left of our car and hopefully jump on the podium one last time this year.
“Targeting a win would be quite unrealistic, but yeah, a podium, I really hope so. But, to be honest, after a weekend like that, I have very little hope.”
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc despairs at dismal Ferrari pace at F1 Qatar GP
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