‘We’re coming back to reality’ – Leclerc rues ‘not good’ Sprint Qualifying in Qatar amid crucial weekend for Ferrari in constructors’ fight

Charles Leclerc was left disappointed by the outcome of Qatar Sprint Qualifying for Ferrari, with the Monegasque admitting that his P5 result – just behind team mate Carlos Sainz in P4 – is not ideal for the team in what could be a vital weekend for their constructors’ title bid.

The Scuderia had started the day off in what looked to be promising form after Leclerc topped the timesheets in first practice. However, this pace did not look to have continued later on Friday, leaving Leclerc and Sainz unable to beat their McLaren rivals up ahead.

READ MORE: Norris storms to impressive Sprint Qualifying pole in Qatar ahead of Russell and Piastri

Asked for his thoughts on the session after appearing to be pushing hard throughout, a downbeat Leclerc reflected: “Not good because when you give it all obviously, and we are only P4 and P5, it’s not great considering how important this weekend is for us.

“But let’s say that for whatever reason FP1 was a lot above our expectations; this I would say is in line with what we expected, so we’re coming back to reality. Obviously after FP1 there were hopes that we could do something better, but we didn’t.”

In terms of whether Ferrari can still challenge McLaren for victory in Saturday’s Sprint, the 27-year-old added: “If we look at FP1, clearly yes; if we look at qualifying, no. For now the most representative is quali, so we are not in the best position. But we never know, it’s always different coming [into] race day.”

Sainz, meanwhile, voiced an optimistic note about the progress that the team can potentially make going forward after his P4 result, which came after he was left with only enough time to get one flying lap on the board in SQ3.

Looking back on the squad’s stronger showing in first practice, the Spaniard said: “I never try and read too much into FP1, because you never know the fuel loads and the engine modes the other ones are running.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from Sprint Qualifying in Qatar as Norris storms to pole ahead of Russell and Piastri

“The good news is that the car was feeling better – in terms of balance – than expected, and obviously the timesheets were reflecting that. But, yeah, we went into quali still worried that our rivals could be quick around here and that’s what we saw.

“Anyway we didn’t maximise I think our package, even though the lap was clean it was just a lap with a lot of understeer in the car and I just couldn’t turn the car basically for the whole lap.

“It was also a tough lap because it was my only chance to put a lap [in], so I couldn’t risk it too much with track limits, which meant that, because I missed the previous lap, I just had to make sure I was getting a lap in.

“I think tomorrow we have potential to improve a lot the car, especially on the soft tyre, that is when we will run the car, and that will mean that we can hopefully make some steps forward.”

When pushed on why his run plan unfolded the way it did in that final segment of Sprint Qualifying, Sainz explained further: “Unfortunately we were on a situation where I went into Sector 1 and Sector 2 with Max [Verstappen] in front and he was preparing his tyres, so I had quite a bit of dirty air following him around.

READ MORE: What do McLaren need to do to win the 2024 constructors’ championship in Qatar?

“On top of that, the car balance was just off. We picked up a lot of understeer from the medium tyre, which meant we were just simply struggling to turn the car. Then I need to cool the tyres for a couple of laps and when I went again, the understeery balance was still there, but I need to put a lap in and that was enough for P4.

“It was not easy under pressure, but also with that balance understeering of the track was quite easy [to go] into a track limit. But we got it done, and we just know what we need to improve for tomorrow.”

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