Charles Leclerc will start the F1 Qatar GP from 10th on the grid as Ferrari continues to have no pace around the Lusail circuit this weekend. As the Monegasque dragged his car into SQ3 and Q3 this weekend, Lewis Hamilton dropped out in SQ1 and Q1.
Since practice Ferrari have been on the back foot. The car is extremely loose and snappy. Leclerc had multiple moments in the Sprint, while Hamilton was struggling in front of the Alpines before they boxed.
Charles Leclerc on his qualifying and general difficulties at the F1 Qatar GP
After finishing P8 in Q1 and P9 in Q2, it was clear the 28-year-old was on the limit to do any better than the fourth row. A spin on his first run in Q3 did not help as he fought a very snappy SF-25 through turn 15. His final Q3 lap was 0.218s slower than his Q2 best as he hit a big wall in turns of lap time gains.
“It was incredibly difficult. I mean, the whole weekend has been unbelievably difficult.
“The car is really, really difficult to drive. And yeah, it’s just frustrating.
“I mean, the second lap in Q3 was a really good one, but that’s only good enough for P10 and that is, once again, very frustrating.
“It’s been a very difficult weekend so far.”
Discussing that spin, the 8-time race winner absolutely sent it trying to find time in a car that was simply not there.
“I just took a stupid amount of risks, just like I do on every single corner in Q3 to try and get P8, P9, but it was a little bit too much.
“Then I brought it back for Q3 run 2 and that was just fine and it was a really good lap, but there wasn’t anything more in the car.”
The SF-25 will not work despite Ferrari’s best efforts at the F1 Qatar GP says Charles Leclerc
Following massive set-up changes post-Sprint once the cars came out of Parc Fermé, Ferrari would have been hoping to find a bit more speed. However, that did not change. The car was unbelievably difficult to drive. The P10 and P18 results on the grid show it.
Leclerc explained what was holding Ferrari back at the F1 Qatar GP. He hopes they return to a better level in Abu Dhabi.
“It has to be (a track specific issue), because we’ve tried different set-ups, we’ve tried different approaches and there’s no way out of this situation.
“The car is just not fast enough. It’s not like we have a huge balance problem, even though at one point the car is going to slide front or rear whenever you push it to the limit, but we’ve just got to go too far to that limit to try and extract a little bit of performance and that makes it very, very, very difficult to drive the car.
“So yeah, just not enough performance and I hope that in Abu Dhabi we can come back to our level.
“But that wouldn’t change, obviously, the very disappointing end of the season.”
Leclerc: Points looking unlikely at the F1 Qatar GP
Starting 10th, Charles Leclerc would bag a point in the F1 Qatar GP should he remain in that position at the end of Sunday’s race.
However, the Monegasque was unusually extremely pessimistic about even staying in the top 10 tomorrow night due to their struggles all weekend. In the Sprint he fell from 8th to P13. He ended up a whopping 35s adrift of winner Oscar Piastri by the end.
“Generally, a very optimistic person, but I struggle to find any optimism for tomorrow.
“There’s no one lap this weekend that gave me the hope that things can go in the right direction. So, a good day tomorrow will be to keep the car on track and to try and score a few points.
“I don’t want to go into a race thinking about taking a few points and keeping the car on track, so I’ll try to get into the top ten, but realistically, do I really believe in it? I honestly don’t think so.”
Ferrari will head into the F1 Qatar GP 22 points behind Red Bull. A chance to fight for P3 in the Constructors’ Championship looks to be over.
