Ferrari finds itself just over a tenth off the time that earned Lando Norris pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, yet Charles Leclerc struggled to hide his disappointment.
This, of course, is not linked to the fourth place obtained in the official tests in front of the Ferrari crowd, but rather to a chronic problem – at least this weekend – of understeer already noted in the first free practice sessions yesterday and never really fixed by the team.
“We have understeer and it’s a problem we’ve had since the first free practice session. We haven’t been able to solve it,” Leclerc immediately made clear when he arrived at the press microphones at the end of the Monza Qualifying.
The understeer problem, Leclerc says, is something that has affected his SF-24 in particular. In his opinion, in fact, Sainz showed better things in corners where he struggled, especially in the first sector. What disappointed him most, however, was the inability to improve the understeer issue, a problem that will also have repercussions tomorrow on his Rossa.
“At least from my side of the garage, because Carlos was able to go very fast in the first sector, especially in turns 2-3 and 4-5. We were taking slightly different trajectories.”
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
“That’s part of the explanation, but it’s frustrating that we couldn’t make progress in those corners. In the end we lost too much there. Then we recovered in the other sectors but not enough.”
Today, the top 6 in qualifying were all within a tenth of each other. A tight race that hints at an equally uncertain race. Leclerc thinks he can have his say, at least in words: because looking at his expression when he said these words, the chances seem to be greatly reduced. And the McLarens, as he himself admitted, could reveal even greater potential.
“From the point of view of race pace we are all very close, we’ll have to see about McLaren, because yesterday they ran with not very powerful engine mappings, so we’ll have to understand how much more potential they have to play with in the race. They will certainly be very fast”.
“We are instead hoping for the fans’ push and the new package, that these factors can help us to have a good race like we did last week in Zandvoort. We will have to try to stay in the DRS zone with the McLarens and try to overtake them.”
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