'It's too much' - Charles Leclerc laments Ferrari’s huge qualifying deficit

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s gap to their F1 rivals in Dutch Grand Prix qualifying is “too much” and reflects the reality of where the team currently find themselves. 

Ferrari struggled for pace throughout qualifying at Zandvoort and Leclerc could only take sixth on the grid with a lap that was nearly a second slower than McLaren’s Lando Norris, who claimed pole position.

Meanwhile, teammate Carlos Sainz endured a nightmare session and was dumped out in Q2 after setting a time only good enough for 11th.

“The lap was good and we are nine tenths off, unfortunately, on such a short track. It's a lot, it's too much,” Leclerc said. “But yeah, as a team, we are aware of that we are lacking performance. We are working flat out.

“Unfortunately, I repeated myself too much in the last few months, but that's the reality we are in at the moment, and we are doing absolutely everything to close that gap as soon as possible.

“Hopefully the upgrades that we'll bring in the car, hopefully as soon as possible, will help us to close the gap.”

While Leclerc sees signs for a Ferrari recovery, he cast doubt on whether the Italian outfit can catch back up to their rivals before the end of the 2024 season.

“There's a roadmap,” he said. “When I see a gap like today, nine tenths, it's a lot, and I'm not so sure we have that until the end of the season, but let's wait and see.

“I also think that a track like this doesn't fit our car, and the gap is probably bigger than what we'll see on other tracks with the same car.

“So today, we have struggled particularly, but I hope that from Monza onwards, we'll be in a better place.”

Leclerc expects he will struggle to make up any ground in Sunday’s grand prix.

“The hopes are… not so high! I think P6 is the best we can do on a weekend like this,” he added.

“Lewis will be very strong with the race pace he has he might come back but for us we don’t have enough race pace to do anything better but if there is the opportunity to do so I’ll try and take it.”