Charles Leclerc seeking Ferrari investigation after mystifying issue

Charles Leclerc has called on Ferrari to investigate a power unit concern that hampered his pace during sprint qualifying in China.

The Monegasque driver could only manage sixth on the grid and was a full second down on the fastest lap time set by George Russell.

Early in the session, it looked as though Ferrari would be able to get close to Mercedes, but in the end, it was McLaren who was the nearest challenger as Lando Norris propped himself into third place.

But on his final lap in SQ3, Leclerc revealed he suffered a loss of half a second of lap time, leaving him highly puzzled and annoyed.

“[It was a] very frustrating session,” Leclerc said. 

“First the toggle, then unfortunately, when I had a good lap, I lost half a second in the back straight for whatever reason on the second lap in SQ3. 

“So we want to analyse that and try to understand what has gone wrong.”

Last time out in Australia, Leclerc was locked in combat in the opening segment of the race with Russell before differing strategies augmented the gap.

While Leclerc is confident Ferrari will be unable to get close to Mercedes during Saturday's qualifying outing, the 28-year-old expressed confidence it will be closer in race trim.

“It doesn't really change the picture from where we are. In the race, we should be a bit stronger than where we were now in qualifying,” he said.

“However, Mercedes seems to be still a step ahead in qualifying. 

“For some reason, the Mercedes power unit finds a lot of lap time. We don't quite find that amount of lap time just yet in qualifying.

“In the race, we are closer, so I'm hopeful we can come back tomorrow.”