"Race pace is there," claims Leclerc after his eventful race in Shanghai

Following an incident-filled race in Shanghai, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc sounded a positive note when assessing his SF-25's race pace at the 56-lap Chinese Grand Prix.

Following a very difficult debut race weekend in Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton displayed a much improved pace at the Chinese Grand Prix. The seven-time F1 champion looked strong from the first laps in the sole practice session, and he shocked his rivals by securing the pole position for the Shanghai F1 Sprint with a brilliant lap.

The British driver then went on to control the 19-lap sprint race to take a dominant maiden victory with the Scuderia. However, he slightly struggled for pace in the main qualifying session, ending up only fifth for the grand prix itself.

Although he took a sensational start on Sunday, he made contact with his team-mate Charles Leclerc. The pair went into Turn 2 on Lap 1 when Hamilton cut back to the racing line, clipping Leclerc’s front wing. As a result of the incident, the Monegasque picked up some damage to his front wing.

Ferrari suggested that the damage led to an aerodynamic loss of 20 to 30 points, which normally required a change, particularly on a track where front-end grip is at a premium due to the long-radius corners. However, Ferrari elected not to change the front wing as it would have sent the Monegasque into heavy traffic.

Despite the severe damage, Leclerc was the faster of the duo which prompted Ferrari to ask its drivers to swap positions. Hamilton then came under pressure from reigning champion Max Verstappen, which meant that the British driver elected to pitted for fresh rubber, opting for a two-stop strategy which turned out to be the slower strategy.

In the end, Leclerc and Hamilton crossed the finish line fifth and sixth respectively, but both cars were subsequently disqualified post-race as the Monegasque's SF-25 was found to be below the minimum weight, while Hamilton's was for a plank infringement.

Despite his issues in the race, Leclerc praised his SF-25 for the race pace while he also revealed why Ferrari elected against changing his front wing at the pit stop.

"We had a really good race car today and the pace to fight with the guys in the front. Unfortunately, my front wing was damaged at the start. I took the inside line at turn 1, while Lewis was more to the outside and didn’t know I was there and I didn’t expect him to come back to the inside, so it was just an unfortunate incident.

"I lost quite a lot of downforce from the damage and we did a good job to make it to the end in that shape. We decided not to change the front wing during the pitstop, since that would mean losing 8 seconds and having to overtake a few cars to recover positions. I gave it my all to overtake George (Russell), but we struggled quite a bit in Turn 12 compared to him, which made it impossible to pass him.

While the race day turned out to be a difficult one for Ferrari, Leclerc was buoyed by his SF-25's race pace, insisting that the Scuderia can build on it, but he also stressed that the qualifying performance needs to be addressed in the coming weeks.

"It could have been a better day for our team, but it’s positive to see that our race pace is there. The huge amount of support from the grandstands this weekend was great to see and put a smile on my face."