Charles Leclerc has said that a rejected downshift lost him lap time during the final part of sprint qualifying at the São Paulo Grand Prix.
The Monegasque driver will line up eighth for the one-third distance race at Interlagos, having endured a lack of pace in his Ferrari.
It was a difficult day all around for the Scuderia. Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in the second part of sprint qualifying in the other SF-25, having needed to slow on his final push lap as a result of Leclerc spinning. The seven-time F1 drivers' champion will start from P11.
The prelude for that underwhelming performance was a practice session in which the team-mates were only P18 and P19 on the timing board, after only running the hard tyre compound.
Looking back on a difficult Friday in Brazil, Leclerc shared that he was "not happy" with the situation the Maranello-based squad finds itself in at the start of the weekend.
"The car was very, very slow," he stated. "It didn't feel that bad, but we are slow, so we've got something to work on and to try and improve [for the sprint and grand prix qualifying]."
The 28-year-old explained that the problem on his first timed run in SQ3 likely cost him a position on the grid.
"Unfortunately, my lap in SQ3, the first one, was pretty good," he said. "I had a rejected upshift in the last straight, so it cost like a tenth and a half — wouldn't have been much better, I think maybe P7. But tough weekend so far."
With the opportunity to take cars out of parc ferme conditions between the sprint and main qualifying hour, Leclerc confirmed he would make changes, but is unsure which direction will be the best to go.
"Nothing makes me think we are out of place in terms of setup," the eight-time grand prix winner responded when asked if he had any clear ideas as to what is causing his lack of pace.
"So I'll try something, whether it's going to be better or worse, I'm not sure."
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