Charles Leclerc has revealed that repeat struggles at the track which hosts the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix are behind his gap to Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton was on song in his second race weekend with Ferrari as he edged out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to collect his maiden pole position with the Italian marque.
However, Leclerc was unable to rival the seven-time F1 champion as he propped up over two-tenths adrift in fourth place, behind Oscar Piastri in the leading McLaren.
Leclerc had trailed Hamilton in the standalone practice hour and that pattern was maintained across all three segments in the session that determines the Sprint grid.
The Monegasque explained how trouble getting the car rotated through the opening complex of corners was a limiting factor that also hampered him 12 months ago.
“I’ve struggled on my side of the garage,” Leclerc admitted. “From the beginning, I felt like I was a step back compared to Lewis and Lewis was faster today.
“Struggled a lot in Turns 1, 2, 3 which is more or less the same struggle that I had last year which is a bit of a shame.
“But apart from that everything was quite tight, so it’s a shame we start P4. But Lewis on pole, and hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow.”
Leclerc lacking confidence in Ferrari’s SF-25
Leclerc admitted he had more trust to explore the SF-25’s limits compared to the preceding practice session, but not enough to replicate the time Hamilton produced.
Asked how challenging FP1 was with the track conditions, Leclerc responded: “Very difficult. We really struggled to put everything in the right window.
“At the end of the day, it felt a little bit better in qualifying, but not where I wanted it to be.
“So still some work to be done for qualifying tomorrow. However, the race is another story and this we will only see tomorrow.”
Leclerc highlights decisive element to China Sprint
Leclerc suspects the high demand that is placed on the tyres at the Shanghai International Circuit will play a dominant role in the outcome of the 19-lap Sprint race.
“First we have a Sprint race which I think will be tricky around here with the tyres and we have to focus on that, then we’ll see about qualifying later on,” he added.
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