“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 r𝕴ecovery for F🌱errari after their difficulties in practice.
However, the Monegasque will start the race from 12th after bein𝐆g hit with a 10-place grid penalty ahead of the weekend due to needing a third control electronics in his Ferrari power unit.
This c𒈔ame after Leclerc retired on Lap 40 of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and his CE was not recoverable.
Speaking after qualifying, Leclerc felt he had extrac🌺tedღ the most from his Ferrari.
"I think I put everythi🅠ng in it,” he said. “It was re𒅌ally on the limit.
"But on the other hand, Re𝓀d Bull are on another planet and we are struggling a little bit. We need to keep pushing - that i𝄹s what we are doing as a team.
"The race is not going to ൲be 🐭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 r𓄧etirement in Bahrain, Leclerc𝕴 ran second before being overtaken by Perez.
While the overall ♋pace of the Ferrari 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 difficult to compare because in FP2 everybody has a very different programme, so we will see," Leclerc a𒈔dded.
"But it seemed a little bit better. It is not going to be because I feeꦉl like everybody is very close in their race p♔ace."
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Conno🥀r is the 🍰heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
