Charles Leclerc Surrenders Against Oscar Piastri as Ferrari Lacks What It Takes to Beat McLaren

Lewis Hamilton started Saturday on a fantastic note for Ferrari by converting his sprint pole to his maiden race win in red. Many felt that the SF-25 had started to come alive and may at least allow Hamilton to fight the McLaren on equal terms.

But come qualifying in the afternoon, the MCL39 in the hands of Oscar Piastri—who took pole position—showed that it is still the class of the field. For Ferrari, Hamilton could only qualify fifth, while Charles Leclerc ended up a tenth further behind his teammate in P6.

It became a bittersweet day overall after the Briton had pulled off a stunning drive in the sprint with some top-drawer tire management. Leclerc had shown a hint of pace during the sprint race as well but never really got in the fight for a top-three finish. In qualifying as well, Hamilton overshadowed the Monegasque. However, that isn’t much of a concern for Leclerc.

He is more worried about the pace deficit Ferrari faces currently with McLaren. The 27-year-old was candid about the same and stated how the Chinese GP qualifying gave an accurate representation of where their car stands right now. As for the Grand Prix on Sunday, the #16 driver has already given up based on the gap he has seen so far in Shanghai.

“These 3 tenths we see today is generally where we are, apart from Lewis doing a great job yesterday,” he said per Sky Sports F1 Live.

Leclerc was almost four-tenths off Piastri’s pole time of 1:30.641. It was Hamilton‘s time that was within three-tenths of the Aussie. And in fact, the Briton seemed more likely to challenge for pole, perhaps on the back of a promising sprint victory.

Leclerc acknowledged that while stating how they both did a ‘good job’ in maximizing the car’s current potential. But they don’t seem to have as much race pace to beat the McLarens up front. “Is there a bit more in the car? Maybe. 3 tenths, I don’t think so”.

While Leclerc didn’t elaborate much on why they were lacking three-tenths in qualifying, Hamilton did have an idea of what went wrong with the SF-25.

Post-sprint changes made the car tricky: Hamilton

After cruising to the sprint race win, Hamilton would’ve been confident of emulating his pole heroics from Friday to take his first Grand Prix pole for Ferrari. However, as parc ferme was lifted before qualifying, teams were allowed to make changes to their setups and Ferrari fell prey to the same.

“We started really optimistic but we made a couple of changes and it really put the car on a knife edge. The wind picked up a bit as well, so the car was trickier to drive and harder to put laps together,” Hamilton said per Sky Sports F1 live.

He stated how the car became a bit ‘overbalanced’ in the high-speed corners, which wasn’t ideal for Hamilton and Leclerc to attack those sections as they would’ve liked. This explains the considerable deficit they had with McLaren’s pace.

Regardless, the two drivers will discuss these aspects during their debrief with the team and look to mitigate these balance issues for the Grand Prix. While they cannot change the setup now under parc ferme—as it could lead to a pitlane start—Ferrari will have to figure out a solution for Hamilton and Leclerc to have a better car in the 56-lap race on Sunday.

Can either of them sneak on the podium amid a closely-matched top six? It’s possible with the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell overachieving in qualifying relative to their car’s potential. Verstappen, in particular, faced a lot of tire degradation issues in the sprint race.

So, that could be Hamilton and Leclerc’s chance to beat the reigning world champion. Meanwhile, Russell’s Mercedes was already under attack by the Monegasque in the closing stages of the sprint. A lap or two more, and Leclerc could’ve got past the #63 driver.

All in all, the Chinese GP could swing in Ferrari’s way if they maximize the opportunities that come their way.