Leclerc: Ferrari ‘further away than we thought’ at F1 Imola GP

Charles Leclerc has conceded Ferrari was “a bit further away than we thought” as he qualified in fourth position for tomorrow’s Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Ferrari has debuted a sizeable update package this weekend and its hopes were heightened when Leclerc completed a clean sweep in the first two practice sessions.

However, Leclerc lost touch with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the two McLaren drivers during the Q3 shootout at Imola, ending two-tenths down on the benchmark.

Leclerc is adamant that Ferrari’s upgrades delivered the anticipated step, but he admitted that the marque came up short in its aspiration to compete for pole position.

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“We cannot be fully happy of course,” Leclerc proclaimed.

“One thing that is good is that the upgrade is doing exactly what is expected, so that is always a good sign, on a track like this maybe we haven’t seen yet all the benefits of the upgrade and we came short of our target which was to be on pole position.

“Friday was strong, we always had the doubt of fuel levels and now there are no doubts about the fuel level in quali.

“And we are a bit further away than what we thought, but my lap was good, I don’t think there was much more in it.”

Red Bull had been on the backfoot across the three practice sessions, but Verstappen rebounded come qualifying to land a record-equalling eighth consecutive pole.

Leclerc has hinted that the Austrian outfit’s struggles were exaggerated due to running with less engine power and more fuel onboard its RB20 earlier in the weekend.

“I think they were just running more fuel yesterday, hiding their game a bit more, lower engine mode or whatever, I think they were hiding their game a bit,” he added.

However, the Monegasque conceded that McLaren’s emergence was a surprise and he has touted both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to be competitive in race trim.

“Yeah, they are very strong, the long run pace they seem very strong yesterday, so tomorrow they will be fast,” he continued.

Ferrari has been stronger over a race distance than one lap with its revamped SF-24 car, although Leclerc suspects that will be nullified with overtaking tough at Imola.

“I think in the race we are strong, however, on a track like this pole position is everything, especially with the reduced DRS it’ll be even more difficult to overtake tomorrow.

“It’s not going to be an easy race but we still should target the win and see where we end up from then,” he concluded.