Charles Leclerc reveals vital missing Ferrari element after shock Spa gap

Charles Leclerc has stated he can feel the changes from the new rear suspension on his Ferrari at the Belgian Grand Prix, but insists there is still something missing.

The 27-year-old maintains the update ported to the SF-25 is a "step forward", but was also quick to point out how the dominance of the McLaren around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit has offset any gains.

Whilst he will line up fourth for the shorter sprint race, Leclerc expressed how "disappointing" the deficit to McLaren's Oscar Piastri is, who secured pole.

"I felt the changes," the Monegasque driver said after sprint qualifying. "But the thing is that... I mean, today the gap is huge.

"I'm sure we did a step forward, but for some reason, McLaren seems to be even faster than the usual around this track, so it's a bit disappointing on that side of things, but I think what we were searching for with those upgrades we had it, it's just a shame to have such a difficult qualifying session, especially in terms of gaps."

When asked if the upgrade on his Ferrari made the car feel more drivable, Leclerc confirmed it did.

However, the eight-time grand prix winner emphasised his mixed feelings from sprint qualifying. In doing so, he zeroed in on a critical area where the SF-25 is still lacking in its fight against the reigning constructors' champions.

"Yeah," he replied. "Again, the feeling was pretty good. It's a mixed feeling: on one side, I'm happy that the car feels better; on the other, even if the car feels actually pretty good, we are still seven-tenths [of a second] off, which is a huge amount of time.

"Yes, it's a long track, but still, it's a big amount of time. So there's a lot of work to be done, for sure. We just need to add grip to this car."

"At the end of the day, I don't think we do anything particularly wrong, but we just need more grip that we don't seem to have for now."

His Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a torrid session, having his first lap of SQ1 compromised by Kimi Antonelli's spin and spinning of his own volition at the end of his second, caused by rear locking. He will start from P18.