Charles Leclerc said he was “really not happy” after he finished P4 in quali despite doing what he felt was everything right with his lap.

The level of Ferrari compared to the frontrunners was on display in Jeddah, where Leclerc could only manage a 0.376 gap to pole sitter Max Verstappen, leading the Ferrari driver to suggest the team’s upgrades work has done little for their competitiveness.

Charles Leclerc reacts to P4 in Saudi Arabian quali

Leclerc will start alongside George Russell on the second row but while the Mercedes driver was in contention for pole, the same cannot be said for the Ferrari man.

Always a step behind, Leclerc was left to wonder how the team was so far off the pace even with upgrades on the car.

“I’m really not happy,” he told media including PlanetF1.com. “Finishing P4 in quali where the lap was really good, I think I put everything out there, but for now, performance of the car is just not there.

“I either have massive industry or massive oversteer, but the end result is that I don’t have enough grip to reproduce what the guys in front do.

“So, at the moment, I feel good in the car. I think I found the sweet spot of the car that matched my driving style. I feel like in the last three qualifyings, I managed to maximise the potential of the car, but the potential is just not yet at the level where I want it to be.

“I think it is the gap that we’d expect, that we’ve seen since the beginning of the season.

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“However, I’m a bit disappointed here, because we had, I think, a few upgrades that should have helped for here and the gap seems to be pretty similar to before.”

Ferrari brought a new floor to the previous race in Bahrain, but even then, Leclerc suggested the pace would be felt more at this circuit.

In reality, it has done little to close a widening gap to the front three, with Lewis Hamilton also struggling on his way to seventh.

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