“Red Bull are on another planet” - Charles Leclerc’s honest admission after Saudi Arabian GP qualifying
Leclerc missed out on pole by just under 0.2s in Jeddah, which was a remarkable r✤ecovery for Ferrari after their difficulties in practice.
However, the Monegasque will start the race from 12th after being hit with a 10-place grid penalty ahead of🦂 the weekend due to 🐓needing a third control electronics in his Ferrari power unit.
This came after Leclerc retired on Lap 40 of the seas𝓀on-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and his CE was not recoverable.
Speaking after qualifying, Leclerc felt he had extracted the most from his Ferra🃏ri.
"I thin♛k I put everything in it,” he said. “It was really on the limit.
"But on the other h🌸and, Red Bull are on another planet and we are struggling a little bit. We need to keep pushing - that is w💃hat we are doing as a team.
"The race is♔ not going to be easy. We have a 10-place grid penalty, so we will be starting a little bit further back and hopefully, I will✤ come back to the front as quickly as possible."
Before his retirement in Bahr📖ain, Leclerc ran seco𝔉nd before being overtaken by Perez.
While the overall pace of the Ferraꦚri was🍰 fairyl close to the Red Bull, tyre wear was a key weakness.
Leclerc believes Ferrari are in a better position with their race pace ahead 🧜of Sunday’s grand prix.
"The race pace looked quite good but it is very d൲ifficult to compare becau♓se in FP2 everybody has a very different programme, so we will see," Leclerc added.
"But it seemed a 𝓡little bit better. It is not going to be because I feel like everybody is♛ very close in their race pace."
With a sharp eye for F1’s co🎉ntroversies and storylines, Connor is ꦆthe heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
