Charles Leclerc hints at Ferrari issue making F1 qualifying “more difficult”

Charles Leclerc has hinted that an ongoing issue is making qualifying “more difficult” at the F1 British Grand Prix - but he refused to blame it for his poor Q3 showing.

Leclerc is set to start Sunday’s race from sixth on the grid, one place behind Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Both Ferrari drivers made mistakes on their final laps in Q3, leaving them further down the order than expected.

Ferrari’s upgrade at the last race in Austria appears to have moved them up the pecking order.

However, they lost out to the two McLarens, while Max Verstappen and George Russell produced impressive laps.

Speaking to media after qualifying at Silverstone, where Crash.net are in the paddock, Leclerc alluded to an issue which is impacting Ferrari.

“To keep it on track, was OK. The issues are very specific,” Leclerc explained.

“It’s not a balance issue. It’s not a grip issue. I don’t want to go into the detail but it’s just something very weird that we’ve got to fight in the car and especially when there are high-speed corners it makes it very difficult. I hope we can resolve it.

“The good thing, if we can say it’s a good thing, we won’t have any of this. For sure, we won’t have problems of that sort.”

Leclerc “not doing the job” in qualifying

Leclerc was unimpressed with another lacklustre qualifying session.

Until this year, Leclerc has been widely regarded as one of F1’s best drivers over one lap.

Leclerc feels he’s underperforming in qualifying relative to the races.

“More than getting away from me,” Leclerc added. I am not doing the job. I think since the beginning of the season I have been performing very well in the races. Looking back at races, they’re not many races where I’d go back to change something I’ve done inside the car.

“Unfortunately, when I look back at qualifyings, which used to be my strength, they’re are many qualifyings where I’d like to go back and change something as every time when I go to Q3 it’s not clicking at the moment. We’ve had good qualifyings but we didn’t have great qualifyings.

“Again, this used to be my strength so I am not happy with the level I am showing in qualifying. We’ve got issues for sure, particularly today from Q2 onwards. We were fighting with something inside the car. It’s not an excuse. I need to be better.”