Charles Leclerc admits that it is a “worrying” situation that Ferrari was unable to find the cause of his struggles during qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc was a shock Q1 exit during qualifying two weeks ago and went on to start from the pit lane as Ferrari opted to change his power unit after the session.
Speaking immediately after his elimination, Leclerc stated that he would be “very surprised” if a deeper problem relating to his issues wasn’t uncovered.
Leclerc was struggling particularly through left-hand concerns and stated that Ferrari has not yet discovered why.
“No, we didn’t [find the cause],” Leclerc said ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
“To be honest it’s the first time that it happened in my career. If I look in all the left-hand corners that’s where I was struggling.
“I said straightaway after qualifying and we can see that from data clearly I’m losing six-and-a-half, seven-tenths in all the left-hand corners. But there are no real reasons for it yet so I cannot say much more, to be honest.”
Ferrari’s miserable start to the 2023 season comes amid its hope that it would take a further stride forward following a difficult 2022 campaign.
“Overall I think all the team is not satisfied with the performance we are showing at the moment on-track,” Leclerc said.
“It’s very far off our expectations at the beginning of the season. We are very clear with ourselves and it’s very clear for us.
“Qualifying in Barcelona was a very particular one. I think I wasn’t the only one to struggle. We need to understand these things and for now, we don’t have the reasons.
“So this is a little bit more worrying and that’s where we need to push and try to understand the reason of it, because obviously the feeling was really, really bad.
“Looking ahead we just need to keep pushing, try and bring upgrades as quickly as possible and regularly, which is our aim now to try and close the gap with the guys in front and also close the gap, especially in terms of race pace.
“Because even though I struggled a lot in qualifying on Saturday, the Sunday wasn’t great either.
“If we look at Carlos that had a great weekend, he had a great Saturday, but then on Sunday we struggled again with the race pace. So that’s where we are trying to push at the moment.
“What gives me confidence, though, is that there is a clear direction in where we want to work and improve. And this is what makes me believe in the project.”
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