After two consecutive races with a prancing horse on pole position it was just fourth place for the best Ferrari in Suzuka. Charles Leclerc was left dumbfounded by the gap to Max Verstappen, who was almost seven tenths quicker.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “They’ve been on it straight from FP1, we understood there was quite a bit of work to do, especially in sector one, because in sector one we are losing most of the time we are losing around the lap.
“This we need to look into because it might help us to understand where we need to work and in which condition our car is weak at the moment.”
The Monegasque driver wasn’t too dissatisfied with his own performance, but after seeing the gap he couldn’t help to feel a bit disappointed.
“On that lap in Q3, I did a really good sector one. But it’s still far off. We need to work on that,” he explained. “It feels amazing but it’s a bit disappointing when you finish such a great lap, you’re P4 and seven-tenths off too.”
“It’s good but it would be more enjoyable if we were fighting for first position.”
And it’s not only Red Bull Ferrari is lacking on, McLaren was also quicker than the Maranello outfit.
“Also if you look at the McLaren, that’s where we’ve been struggling,” Leclerc said, adding that he felt it would be difficult of overtake the Woking-based squad.
“Our race pace is very similar to theirs, so [we need to pass them] either at the start or through the strategy.
“Especially with the extremely warm temperatures this year, the overheating is really, really bad,” he explained. “I expect it will be all about tyre management and the strategy.”
On a more positive note heading into Sunday’s race, both Ferraris start ahead of the Mercedes drivers as they look to continue at chipping away at the gap for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship
