Leclerc admits Ferrari ‘nowhere near’ Mercedes as Hamilton explains issue that hampered Australia Qualifying efforts

Charles Leclerc has admitted that Ferrari are “nowhere near Mercedes” after finishing some eight-tenths behind the pole-sitting Silver Arrow of George Russell during Australian Grand Prix Qualifying.

Leclerc headed into the weekend wary of Mercedes’ potential, and his fears were realised across final practice and Qualifying, where Russell and Kimi Antonelli unleashed an impressive level of speed.

Leclerc ultimately took fourth, with team mate Lewis Hamilton back in seventh – the Ferraris sandwiching the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and reigning World Champion Lando Norris.

After Qualifying, Leclerc was asked if he felt surprised by the gap to Mercedes, and frustrated at not being able to secure P3 on the grid, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar slotting ahead at the end of Q3.

“Frustration about P3, for sure,” Leclerc replied. “I won’t go into the detail, because it’s a very complex car to explain, but in Q2 we had issues with our deployment.

“Then in Q3, because of the red flag, we had to re-optimise everything on that last lap, and we couldn’t quite make that. We were a bit sub-optimal for that last lap, and that definitely cost us P3.

“We were nowhere near Mercedes. Maybe optimising everything we would have a tenth-and-a-half, but I’m pretty sure that’s also the story of everybody. [These are] such complex cars that nobody, I would expect, was optimising absolutely everything out of the car today.

“On the other question, I am not so surprised. I was in front of the cameras yesterday, I don’t know if I said the number, but I thought they were maybe half a second ahead, and in the end they are eight-tenths in front.

“I think this morning I did not expect what they’ve shown, and I think they were a lot more turned down than what everybody thought in the paddock. At the same time it’s… We can only respect what they’ve done with the engine, and the amount of performance they found compared to others.”

Pushed on whether he and Ferrari can make an impression on Mercedes in race trim, the Monegasque added: “I cannot do anything. Yesterday they were super, super strong. I don’t think they had the engine turned up the way they did this morning. I don’t even know if they were full power in Qualifying, maybe they kept a little bit, because this morning was just crazy.

“Tomorrow I don’t really know what to expect, but I think they will be in another world – probably a little bit less than a second [a lap] faster than everybody else. That’s what I would expect, but I hope I’m wrong.”

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Hamilton was a tenth-and-a-half slower than Leclerc as he rued engine trouble midway through Qualifying.

“The whole weekend was looking good up until Q2,” he explained. “Q1 on the medium tyre was feeling solid, and I was feeling great, then we went into Q2 and we had some problems with our engine.

“We ended up having to come in, and that put a lot of pressure on us to have to go out and try and execute with one lap, on a tyre that we hadn’t driven yet, at least in Qualifying, and that was tricky. Then we went into Q3 and it was just a mess for everybody, so it was a bit random.

“I think there’s a lot more performance in the car and we just didn’t execute it all perfectly. Honestly, I think if it had gone perfectly, we could have been third today.”