Charles Leclerc says Ferrari “needs to make a step forwards” after being concerned at the deficit he faced after qualifying for Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Leclerc qualified in sixth place at the Hungaroring, with Ferrari the fifth-fastest car, behind Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, the two McLarens, and Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo.
Leclerc was almost four-tenths of a second down on Hamilton’s pole position time and was surprised at such a gap.
“[I’m] not [feeling] great to be honest because I was really happy with my lap and then you look at the board and you are P6,” he said.
“Yes, the margins are very close until P4, but then the top three is quite a lot ahead on a track like this, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“Today McLaren again is showing they’ve done a general big step forward as on a track like this compared to Silverstone it’s two completely different characteristics and they are very quick, so we need to do a step forward also.”
Ferrari holds only fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, having fallen away from Mercedes and Aston Martin, and Leclerc emphasised that a step is required.
“McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull now seems to be consistently ahead, at least if you are looking at the last three races,” he said.
“We need to work otherwise we are just losing more points and more points every weekend, so we need to do a good push.”
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