F1 | Leclerc: “We had pace. Now I know what happened in qualifying”

Overtaking in Imola is complicated to say the least and today too it proved difficult. Charles Leclerc, who started third on the starting grid, always finished third in the race, preceded by Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Starting well enough to hold position, Leclerc immediately tried to match Norris’ pace on Medium tyres, but McLaren proved stronger on that type of compound (C4 this weekend).

Switching to Hard, Leclerc mounted a good comeback against the British driver from McLaren, but stopped at the best moment. Once Lando came close to being a second behind, Leclerc made a mistake at the Variante Alta and, from that moment on, he no longer had the pace to be able to aspire to get close to his opponent.

“At least I made the podium,” declared Leclerc at the end of the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. “Obviously I’m only very happy when I win, and today we didn’t succeed. We were very fast at the start of the first stint and we tried to put Norris under pressure: but then they were incredibly strong. We, in terms of race pace, today are competitive states”.

Leclerc underlined again that the problem of the weekend was qualifying. It is there where Ferrari lost its chances of bringing home a more prestigious result, also due to some problems on the straight which penalized the SF-24s.

“I’m more confident than yesterday, because I didn’t know where the time lost in the first sector came from. Looking at the data, there is something strange that Red Bull and McLaren do regarding the engine strategy and this ensures that on the straights we lose all the time from the others. Then in the corners, however, we are either as fast as them or we are even faster. So we have to look at that, then we are calm because we have to get it right in the race qualification. What happened yesterday is now quite clear for us.”

Leclerc then admitted that even next weekend, at the Monaco Grand Prix, it will be difficult to judge the updates that Ferrari brought to Imola. We will have to wait until Canada, but the Red team will aim to win in the streets of the Principality.

“I don’t think that in Monaco we will still be able to judge well the updates we have brought here due to the type of track. Then Canada will arrive and we hope to better understand the improvements in the car.”

“We will certainly go to Monaco to win. But here too I wanted to win. We must have the mentality of wanting to win on every track. Certainly in Monaco everything is possible. It is very specific and the driver can make the difference. We will go there with the victory in the lead.”