Charles Leclerc was pleased with his performance in qualifying ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but the Ferrari driver said his SF-25 still wasn’t where he wants it to be.
“I’m not happy, I’m really not happy,” Leclerc told reporters including Motorsport.com after qualifying fourth at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
“Finishing P4 in qualifying is really good, I put everything out there, but for now the performance of the car is just not there,” he continued. “I either have massive understeer or massive oversteer, but the end result is that I don’t have enough grip to reproduce what the guys in front do.”
Leclerc said he was maximizing the car’s potential, but the gap to the frontrunners was still too significant. “At the moment I feel good in the car. I think I found the sweet spot of the car that matches my driving style,” he explained.
“I feel like in the last three qualifying sessions I managed to maximize the potential of the car, but the potential is just not yet at the level I want.”
The Monegasque also addressed the upgrades Ferrari brought to Jeddah, noting they didn’t help close the gap.
“I’m a bit disappointed because we had a few upgrades that should have helped but the gap [to the frontrunners] seems to be pretty similar to before,” he said. “[The upgrades] do work, but unfortunately I feel like the others have done as much of a step, which means that the gap hasn’t really changed.”
