Charles Leclerc is mystified as Ferrari loses its strong S3 pace.

Up until the moments before qualifying, it was widely assumed that Ferrari would be the main threat to McLaren. However, not only did Red Bull, certainly in Max Verstappen's case, turn things around, the Maranello outfit did the complete opposite.

Consequently, Leclerc and his new teammate Lewis Hamilton start seventh and eighth... behind Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon.

In all three practice session the SF25 was particularly strong in the final sector, however, be it overnight changes to set-up or whatever, come qualifying that pace had all but disappeared.

"As soon as we started to push the car more and more and more, we found more and more inconsistency, which was a bit of a shame," Leclerc told reporters.

"We lost a little bit the pace throughout qualifying," he added. "Q1 we were good, Q2 a little bit less good, and Q3 we had to push a lot to try and make the lap time.

"But we didn't really follow the track for some reason," he sighed, "so we've got to look into it and maximise tomorrow."

Asked about the mystery of the missing S3 pace, he said: "I think tyres are where, in the last sector, you have the most overheating. And I was struggling with it today a lot more than I did yesterday. So this is something that we'll look into.

"We've lost relative competitiveness compared to yesterday, which we know what we've changed, so we'll have to look into it for sure," he said.

Asked if the Sf25 has a narrow operating window, he said: "I wouldn't conclude that yet. But in Q3, again, as a matter of fact, it was very difficult. Today in Q3 was particularly difficult.

"Before that, I had no signs of this," he admitted. "We've got to wait and see.

"I hope we are fighting closer to McLaren," he said, looking ahead to tomorrow. "The feeling is that we are closer than the P1 now. Just in Q3, we lost our balance, we lost the window.

"When the gaps are so tight, it's very difficult to put a lap together as a driver. I think the gaps today are bigger than what they should be."

However, the youngster is in no mood to throw in the towel.

I've said many times before coming here, it's only the first race of the season, and it's only a starting point. It's going to be a very long season. We've just got to stay calm, maximise points tomorrow, whatever that may be, and work from there.

"I think this car has a lot of potential, but for now we don't seem to be in the right window. So we've got to find it.

"This for sure, this is a good thing for F1," he smiled, "we've got to be honest."

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