Leclerc left disappointed with gap to Mercedes at Spa as bouncing returned in the race
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was left frustrated by the Belgian Grand Prix, insisting that the Scuderia finds now itself down in fourth place in the pecking order.
In the final race before the summer break, Ferrari picked up 18 points courtesy of a fourth place for Charles Leclerc and a seventh for Carlos Sainz. With the disqualification for George Russell, Leclerc inherited a third-place on the podium while the Spaniard moved up the order to sixth.
Starting on the mediums, Leclerc kept the lead off the line but on lap 3, he had to give best to Lewis Hamilton. The Monégasque stayed behind the Briton after the first round of pit stops with around two seconds separating the duo.
The situation remained the same even after the second stop when once again he found himself behind Hamilton, but he dropped down to third, because out in front was George Russell in the other Mercedes.
In the closing stages, Leclerc had to defend from Oscar Piastri, eventually relinquishing a podium place to the Australian on lap 36. However, he inherited the last spot on the podium after George Russell was disqualified from the Spa race.
Commenting on a race what he labelled as "disappointing", Leclerc noted: "I cannot be too happy with today’s race, as we had expected to be on the same level as Mercedes. On the positive side we managed to keep the two Red Bulls and one McLaren behind us.
"In terms of tyres and strategy, we had expected to see a lot more graining on the Hard, but they worked well, while we struggled more with the Medium. I thought we were stopping too early for the first stop, but with hindsight the Hard was a really good tyre and as we saw with George (Russell), the one-stop might have worked better, but in the end we did a good job to stay in front of Max (Verstappen).
Leclerc insisted Ferrari is now clearly the fourth quickest team, having slipped behind McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes in the pecking order.
"I had hoped for a better result going into the holidays, but that’s how it is and at least I know I got everything I could out of the car. What happened is very simple, we were not fast enough. It seemed we were the fourth car today, we expected McLaren and Red Bull, but Mercedes was faster than expected.
"And in a normal race, on a dry track, keeping them behind is very difficult. We did a good job keeping Max and Lando behind, but 4th place was the best we could hope for today. We thought we were on par with Mercedes, but they had an advantage. For this reason, I do not consider the result positive; it went worse than expected.”
“I thought McLaren had a huge advantage in pace, but today it was less evident. Unfortunately, we are the fourth force. The top three keep changing, but we are there, at best on par with Mercedes.
Ferrari has been suffering from bouncing in recent races since the introduction a comprehensive set of upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix. Although the team found a quick solution with an upgraded floor at the Hungaroring, Leclerc said that the issue returned in the closing stages of the Spa race.
"At the end of the race, there was a bit more because we were pushing at high speed, and obviously, there were more problems. I am very disappointed with this result.”
