Leclerc reveals Ferrari nightmare after Monaco qualifying setback: 'I've been struggling massively'

Speaking to GPblog, among others, Leclerc said, “The thing is that I definitely don't know what I'm getting [from the car]. At the moment, it's a bit of a discovery whenever I get on the brakes. I don't want to go too much into the detail, and I won't go into more detail than what I've said, but it's been extremely inconsistent, and I've just been struggling massively. Whether it was in Montreal or here, especially when tyres are just not in the right window, and the tyre is also digital. On top of that, the inconsistency from the car made it very difficult.”

For most of Q3, Leclerc was in P10, and it wasn’t until the last few minutes that he was able to make any solid gains. Leaving the pits with five minutes to go gave him fresh air to set a pole-sitter-worthy lap. The Monegasque was only on provisional pole for a short while as Max Verstappen and then Kimi Antonelli crossed the line quicker.

Regarding the SF-26’s performance around Monaco, he said, “There were no energy faults during the lap, which is a good thing. It was a full attack from the beginning to the end, which is something I enjoy.”

Leclerc had time to respond to Antonelli’s provisional pole, but his lap was cut short when it brushed the barriers. This left him down in fourth position behind Antonelli, Verstappen and Hamilton. As he was not able to finish the lap, Leclerc refused to go into more detail about whether or not it would have been pole-position-worthy.

Ferrari announced earlier that Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, would not be at the track today. This was due to him being under observation after undergoing medical checks.

Leclerc added, “Fred has been, even though he's not on track, very much involved with today. So, yeah, we miss Fred on track, but he's been there, and he still supports us.”