Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has pointed at a loss of “competitiveness” on the Ferrari SF-25 Formula One car after he secured a P7 qualifying finish, a stark contrast to his P1 finish from Free Practice 2 on Friday. The Monegasque driver acknowledged that changes were made to the car’s setup going into the Australian Grand Prix qualifying, which made the session more difficult as it progressed.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured the top positions on the starting grid, while both Ferraris finished seventh and eighth. Leclerc was confident of winning the pole position after FP2, but the situation shifted on Saturday due to an alleged inconsistency in the SF-25’s performance. Speaking to the media at Albert Park, Leclerc said after qualifying:
“As soon as we started to push the car more and more and more, we found more and more inconsistency, which was a bit of a shame.
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“We lost a little bit the pace throughout qualifying. Q1 we were good, Q2 a little bit less good, and Q3 we had to push a lot to try and make the lap time.
“But we didn’t really follow the track for some reason, so we’ve got to look into it and maximise tomorrow.”
Ferrari is expected to look into the setup changes and the factor that caused the tires to build up heat considerably. Leclerc explained:
“I think tyres are also where in the last sector you have the most overheating. And I was struggling with it today a lot more than I did yesterday. So this is something that we’ll look into.
“I think we’ve lost relative competitiveness compared to yesterday, which we know what we’ve changed, so we’ll have to look into it for sure.”
When asked if the current car has a narrower performance window than its predecessor, the SF-24, Leclerc said it would be too soon to jump to conclusions at this stage. He said:
“I wouldn’t conclude that yet. But in Q3, again, as a matter of fact, it was very difficult. Today in Q3 was particularly difficult.
“Before that, I had no signs of this. We’ve got to wait and see.”
Leclerc concluded that the gap to McLaren is much wider than he had anticipated but hopes it could be covered on race day. He added:
“I hope we are fighting closer to McLaren. The feeling is that we are closer than the P1 now. Just in Q3, we lost our balance, we lost the window.
“When the gaps are so tight, it’s very difficult to put a lap together as a driver. I think the gaps today are bigger than what they should be.”