Ferrari disappointed with first F1 2026 qualifying
That the Mercedes we expected it to be the car to beat after the pre-season tests in Bahrain, but few would have even imagined an advantage of eight tenths over the first of the pursuers, at least on the flying lap in qualifying and on a circuit like that of Melbourne. The look and body attitude of Charles Leclerc at the end of qualifying therefore they do not hide how the result of the first Q3 of the new technical era is one cold shower for Ferrari. Interviewed by Mara Sangiorgio for Skythe 28-year-old from Monaco admitted that he had experienced the same sensations on the track as he had already had at the end of the day on Friday, at the end of which he had, with some surprise, admitted the gap to George Russell And Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
All the bitterness of Charles Leclerc
“Unfortunately, I had already had this feeling yesterday which was quite clear to me – explains Charles Leclerc after qualifying which saw him fourth on the grid behind Isack Hadjar – And Even though I hoped I was wrong, I had predicted an advantage of between five and six tenths for Mercedes. In the end it was eight tenths… Unfortunately on my last lap we had some minor problems, but with these cars as soon as the battery cuts a bit of power in a corner then you can lose up to two and a half tenths, and perhaps we paid for this in the end. But it’s also the beginning of this technical era, so I don’t think there was anyone who did the perfect qualifying today. Today we could have hoped for third place and we missed it by just two hundredths but in the race we will try to fight for it”.
The Monegasque from Ferrari, however, does not point the finger at the small technical problems that made energy management complicated in the laps in Q2 and Q3: “I don’t want to point the finger at that, unfortunately it can happen with these cars and it’s not just our problem, but a more generalized thing. It’s very complicated for us to go into detail and explain everything in detail to the people and fans who are watching us, but having said that there is certainly optimization to be done“. “I think that’s the case for everyone but, apart from all this I must say that I am disappointed, because certainly a delay of eight tenths is a very important gap, which we must try to close as soon as possible”, concluded Charles Leclerc.
