20/05/2024
NEWS STORY
Having dominated on Friday, Charles Leclerc can't understand Ferrari's lack of pace when it mattered most.
Of course, the first sign that Friday's pace might not have been all it appeared was in qualifying, when, Max Verstappen aside, both McLaren's out-paced Leclerc by 0.2s.
Reflecting on Saturday and Sunday, Leclerc believes the SF-24's main deficit was straight-line speed on the pit straight and down to Tamburello.
"Looking back at yesterday, reanalysing qualifying, I think we basically lost everything at the launch (start) for some reason," said the Monegasque at race end. "We had a slightly different power strategy compared to McLaren and Red Bull, and we lost everything on the run down to Turn 2.
"Max, on top of that, had the slipstream," he added, referring to the tow the world champion got from Nico Hulkenberg on his final run in Q3.
"This is something we'll have to look into because, especially on a track like this, track position is absolutely everything," he continued. "And when you only have a tenth between Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves, we need to do everything perfect. The third place today cost us maybe a better result in the race.
"At least it's a podium," he added. "It's incredible to be on the podium with all the Tifosi here... but of course I'm only very happy when I win, and today we didn't quite make it.
"We were very fast at the beginning of the stint with the hards," he continued. "I started to push to try and put some pressure on Lando, but later on they were incredibly quick.
"Our race pace is very, very strong," he subsequently told Sky Sports. "I'm more optimistic than yesterday looking back at the qualifying because this is where I think we are lacking on a weekend like this. What makes me optimistic is that if I look back at the data, I thought we were losing in turn two, three, four, which would have been tyre related again, but it wasn't the case. We lost everything in the straights, and they are doing something weird with the energy, engine-wise, McLaren and Red Bull.
"We've got to look into it, but nothing that isn't possible to change, and once we fix that I think we've got a real shot of going back on the top step for the podium.
"Monaco is going to be a very special of course, as special as here at Imola," he added. "There's a lot of red, and it's always amazing to see that."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Imola here.