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 Hamilton.

The Monegasque maintained fourth on the line but lost a place to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell into the hairpin on Lap 1.

Russell resisted Leclerc’s late charge, with Ferrari seemingly 𓆏having superior ty𝓡re wear to their rivals.

Leclerc's race was disappointing, particularly in comparison to Hamilton, who won by overᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ six seconds.

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

“I mean 🎉the potential is there 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 crazy but that’s not an excuse. You’ve got to learn and it doesn’t seem like I am doing the right things in the car.

“We’ve got this afternoon tꦇo 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 conf♏iguration compared to Lewis but I don’t think there’s much in that.

“We will try to go towards 🐬his directi♌on 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-opꦺening Australian Grand Prix as the four♛th-fastest team.

Leclerc and Hamilton could only qualify seventh and eighth, respectively, 𒐪at Albert Park.

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

The race was al♋so a disaster as Ferrari mistimed the switch to intermediates.

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

However, Ferrari appear to be the team to beat heading into Sunday’s race iᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚn Shanghai.

McLaren underperformed in sprint qualifying, while𝔍 Lando Norris made a crucial error on the opening lap of the spri🐻nt event.

Norris and Oscar Piastri looked like they had the pꦐace for p𝓡ole position.

With track position so crucial due to high front tyre degradation, the battle for pole will likely decide which driver wins on Sunda♍y.