Charles Leclerc finds key reason behind 0.3s Lewis Hamilton gap

Charles Leclerc has admitted he does not have the “ease” with which he drove last year, acknowledging Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton is extracting more from the car more often.

Hamilton took pole position for Saturday’s Sprint at Silverstone, with Leclerc set to start in fourth, 0.327s down on the seven-time world champion.

Charles Leclerc Ferrari ‘ease’ lacking as Lewis Hamilton on Sprint pole

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The British Grand Prix has been Hamilton’s happiest hunting ground over the course of his career, taking to the top step of the podium nine times in front of his home crowd.

While Leclerc had been back on form over one lap in Austria last time out, he admitted the characteristics of the SF-26 do not give him the same feel when he’s behind the wheel.

With that, the Ferrari driver is left with work to do to catch his teammate.

“It’s been quite a bit that I realised I didn’t have the ease that I had last year with last year’s car,” he said after Sprint qualifying.

“And even when I push, whenever I put things together, we speak about hundredths, and Lewis is more often at 100 per cent of the potential of the car, which I’m not.

“So I’ve got to work on everything, really, but I think most importantly, it’s just the feeling with this car.

“When you don’t get quite the feeling, then it’s difficult to extract the lap time, and to have the confidence of every Saturday going into qualifying – in this case, it’s a Friday, but anyway – and get to the limit of the car, which I’m struggling to just be consistent to be at my 100 per cent.

“Q1 and Q2, I was close to it, I was quite confident for Q3, but coming into Q3 I lost the car, I just don’t feel the car as well as I should.”

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With Silverstone being one of the fastest circuits on the Formula 1 driver and Ferrari holding a much-discussed power deficit compared to rival teams, despite a recent engine upgrade, neither driver was expecting to be in the hunt at all this weekend.

Placing a car on the front two rows for the Sprint would suggest otherwise, which Leclerc admitted came as a shock.

“We are extremely surprised,” he said.

“Lewis taking the pole today, but in general, we were expecting just a much bigger gap to the cars in front, so it’s a good step forward.

“I think as a team we are very, very surprised to be that competitive on a track like this.”

Saturday’s 17-lap Sprint gets underway at 12noon at Silverstone, with qualifying for the British Grand Prix set to take place later on Saturday afternoon.

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