Leclerc says why Ferari 'have yet to fully benefit' from their upgrades
F1 News
After free practices one and two, there was one driver who many thought would take pole position on Saturday at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc seemed to be on fire around the iconic Imola track with his newly updated Ferrari, taking advantage of a slow and ponderous Red Bull. However, when it mattered on qualifying, Max Verstappen found the pace for P1, while Leclerc could not, only managing P4.
Leclerc 'further away' than where he expected to be
Speaking to the paddock after Saturday's proceedings, the Monegasque said his car is yet to fully benefit from its updates, leading to the Ferrari being just a bit off the pace compared to Verstappen and the two McLarens in P2 and P3. However, Leclerc will start in P3 after Oscar Piastri's three-place grid penalty.
"We cannot be fully happy, of course," said the 26-year-old. "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. One thing that is good is that the upgrade is doing exactly what we expected, so that is always a good sign.
"We are a bit further away than we thought. But yes, my lap was good. I don't think there was much more in it. I think in the race we are quite strong. However, on a track like this, track position is basically everything. And especially with the reduced DRS, it's going to be even more difficult to overtake tomorrow. So it's not going to be an easy race, but we still should target the win and see where we end up then from there."
Leclerc says there is 'more potential to unlock' with the upgrades
Why have Ferrari not fully benefited from these upgrades? Leclerc continued by saying: "The track is just a bit more of a twisty track with a lot of kerb riding, which, when you're on a kerb, the small differences are a bit less obvious, so it might not be the best track to look at the upgrades. And if a car is really, really good on kerb riding here, it might make more of a difference than an upgrade, aero-wise. So that's what I meant when I said that, Imola, we might not see the full potential of this upgrade we brought.
"I think we need to wait and see a few races before judging them because we might not be running in the optimal window for this new package and all of this. So I'm sure there's more potential to unlock. Was today worse than expected? Probably a little bit. We expect it to be a bit closer. However, the season is still long, and we still have plenty of ideas how to extract more of this package," the Monegasque concluded.