Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc faced a frustrating Sprint qualifying this Friday for the Formula 1 Chinese GP and will start from sixth position in the Sprint race on Saturday. After the session, the Monegasque asked the team to investigate a possible power unit issue that affected his performance.
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Leclerc finished the session about a second behind the best lap set by George Russell of Mercedes. At the start of the activity, Ferrari seemed capable of getting close to Mercedes, but in the end it was McLaren that appeared closer to the top, with Lando Norris securing third position.
In the final attempt in SQ3, Leclerc reported losing about half a second on the back straight, something that left him without explanation: “It was a very frustrating session. First we had the selector problem and then, when I was on a good lap, I lost half a second on the back straight for some reason on the second flying lap attempt in SQ3,” he stated.
Given what happened, the driver asked for a detailed analysis from the Italian team: “We want to analyze this and understand what went wrong.”
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In the previous round, at the Australian GP, Leclerc even fought for position with Russell at the start of the race, but different strategies ended up widening the gap between them.
For the rest of the weekend in China, the Monegasque believes that Ferrari can show better performance in race pace, although he recognizes that Mercedes still seems to have an advantage in flying laps: “This doesn’t change the scenario we are in much. In the race we should be a bit stronger than we showed now in qualifying, however, Mercedes still seems a step ahead in qualifying pace,” he added.
Leclerc also highlighted the difference in power unit performance on flying laps: “For some reason, the Mercedes power unit finds a lot of lap time. We still haven’t been able to find that same gain in qualifying sessions. In the race we are closer, so I hope we can react tomorrow,” he completed.
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