"I don't want to be losing more points in the next races", claims Leclerc after his faultless drive in Jeddah

Having delivered a faultless drive at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claims that he does not want to lose more points in the championship battle as he has already suffered a big blow to his championship aspirations.

Ferrari appeared to struggle for pace across the practice sessions, and so significant were their struggles that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were forced to bolt on a second set of fresh softs in Q1 to progress into the middle segment of qualifying.

However, the SF25 came in the race alive. Leclerc started on the medium and managed to run a very long opening stint, managing his tyres better than any other drivers.

The Monegasque then switched to the hard for his final stint, and although he dropped down the order, he enjoyed a big tyre offset and was able to get past Russell. In the closing stages, Leclerc was forced to hold off a late charge from Norris, but he managed to bag his first podium of the season.

His team-mate Hamilton also started on the mediums, and he also tried to extend his first stint. He was unfortunate tough as he lost crucial time when Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen overtook him on their fresh tyres.

He displayed a great pace on his second stint, and closed in on his Mercedes replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but he was unable to move any further forward than P7.

Reflecting on his faultless driver in Jeddah, Leclerc noted: "At least I feel like we've maximized absolutely everything we could have this weekend. There wasn't anything more in the car. I think we need to focus on qualifying because it's been a very long time I haven't been as happy with the car balance.

"I feel very at ease with the car in a way that I know I can extract the maximum out of the car more often than not, but unfortunately, the car potential is just not good enough to fight for better in qualifying. In the race, the good car balance had results. We were all surprised by our pace in free air on the first stint. That was really good.

"Everything else was perfectly executed. Strategy was great. Pit stops have been great the whole season and also the whole of last year as well. There wasn't much more we could have done.

Asked about his offset strategy that saw him extend his first stint longer than anyone else on the medium tyre, Leclerc said: "The car just felt good. To be honest, I was struggling a lot when I was behind George with the car balance – a lot of understeer – and I hate that.

"As soon as he pitted, the front came alive and the car felt a lot better. Then I could manage the fronts a little bit better, and the performance came much better once I was in free air.

While Ferrari seriously struggled for one-lap pace in qualifying, the SF25 displayed a very impressive performance in the 50-lap Jeddah race. Leclerc has revealed that Ferrari's main issue was the first two corners in qualifying where the SF25 lost almost four tenths of a second compared to the rivals' cars.

"I think we are close on the race pace. I think free air dictates a little bit who is going to win the race. That's always been the case. Maybe this year a little bit more than other years. And obviously when that is the case, qualifying is more important. But unfortunately, for two years, we are just struggling in qualifying to put everything together.

"This weekend the problem is it’s not always the same issue. This time it was four tenths in the first three corners. For the rest of the lap, we were fast. And now today in the race, actually, the first sector was probably the best sector we had. So we've got to look at that. Obviously, there are answers in what we are doing, and we are doing something wrong, clearly.

"We've got to find it. We cannot lose too many races before finding it because we're already 50 points down in the Drivers' Championship. We're not looking at it too much, but 50 points is a big number. I don't want to be losing more points than that in the next few races.

Asked about his fight with Lando Norris, Leclerc said that while he was not too worried about the McLaren's pace, he was rather concerned about the backmarkers.

"I knew it was going to be tight. He was very quick. I wasn't worried, but I knew it was going to be close. I didn’t know what to expect with the traffic. At one point, I had to avoid, I think, Bortoleto and I went in the marbles – lost a lot of time. Lando nearly got into my DRS range, which would’ve made it trickier to keep him behind.

"But he got stuck around 1.2, 1.3 seconds for the last few laps. I was happy to keep the position and to have the first podium of the season for the team. In terms of track familiarity, I don’t think it has any impact on performance at the moment. We just need a better car.

"If we start further up, we’ll have our chances. If not, we’re all too close in the race to make a difference. We really need to focus and put everything together in qualifying,"