Charles Leclerc is refusing to make excuses for his deficit to Lewis Hamilton after the sprint race at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Leclerc could only finish fifth in the 19-lap sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit, 12♕ seconds off race winner Hami꧃lton.

The Monegasque maintained fourth on the line but lost a place to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell into the hairpin on Lap 1.

Russell resisted Leclerc’s late charge, with Ferrari seemingly𝄹 havingꦆ superior tyre wear to their rivals.

Leclerc's race was disappointing, particularly in comparison to Hꦛamilton, who won by 📖over six seconds.

Speaking after the sprint, Leclerc admitted that he’s not “doing the right things in the car” and that Haꦗmilton is simply doing a better job of extracting more fr🔯om the Ferrari.

“I mean the potential is thꦅere clearly because Lewis is using it,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “I am not. I have got some work🌌 to do.

“Historically I am struggling like craz🐼y but that’s not an excuse. You’ve got to learn and it doesn’t seem li🅠ke I am doing the right things in the car.

“We’ve got this afternoon to try and turn this situation around still and tomorrow is the main race. I hope we can find something. I went in a slightly different configuration compared to Lewis but I don’💙t think there’s much in that.

“We will try to go towards his direction and I will try to improve my꧂ driving for this afternoon.”

Ferrari hit back in Shanghai

It’s a remarkable turnaround from Ferrari, who left the season-opening Australi♏an 💟Grand Prix as the fourth-fastest team.

Leclerc and Hamilton could only qualify seven♍th and eig𒐪hth, respectively, at Albert Park.

Both drivers were beaten by Yuki Tsunoda ♋and Alex Albon in Melbourne qualifying.

The race was also a disaster as Ferrari mistimed the switch to inte🦹rmediates.

This meant they came away from Australia with a P8 and P10 finish,🀅 their worst start to a season since 2009.

However, Ferrari appear to be t💛he team to beat heading into Sunday’s race in Sha꧟nghai.

McLaren underperformed in sprint qualifying, while Lando Norris made a crucial🤪 error on the opening lap of the sprint event.

Norris and Os💙car Piastri looked like they hওad the pace for pole position.

With track posit♚ion so crucial due to high front tyre degradation, the battle for pole wi🦋ll likely decide which driver wins on Sunday.