Charles Leclerc surprise after nine-year Ferrari 'biggest weakness' progress

Charles Leclerc admitted surprise after finally finding a Ferrari that worked for him in the wet, insisting it was the first time in nine years at Maranello that rain had not exposed the car's "biggest weakness".

The Monegasque qualified fourth for the São Paulo Grand Prix, carrying a 10-place grid penalty that will drop him well down the order for Sunday's race at Interlagos. 

Lewis Hamilton, his Ferrari team-mate, could only manage 11th as changeable conditions at Interlagos shuffled the order throughout Saturday's session although he starts from 20th due to his own penalty.

Despite the penalty rendering his grid slot largely academic, Leclerc said the wet qualifying session had value beyond the result itself, with Ferrari using the compromised weekend to test experimental set-up direction.

Discussing how a top three finish in qualifying would have been better than the fourth place he actually took, Leclerc told select media, including RacingNews365: "Yeah. However, it's a very strange feeling because, of course, I'm not happy with P4, and I think the end result is a little bit disappointing. 

"However, I believe that this has been a very, very interesting session and a session where we've learnt and that we will learn a lot from going forward."

"Having the 10-place grid penalty, I think we allowed ourselves to be a bit more experimental on various different things, and I think there was a very good correlation between where we were strong during this session and where we were not strong, and what we were doing in the background. So I think it's going to be very helpful going forward."

Unexpected Ferrari wet weather positives

Leclerc has long cited wet conditions as an area where Ferrari has lagged behind its rivals since he joined the team in 2019, a struggle he contrasted sharply with his own junior career form in the rain.

"In nine years with the team, I think the weakness, and the biggest weakness, I think, has always been wet sessions in general," said Leclerc. 

"Whereas, in the junior categories, that was probably my biggest strength. There were moments in qualifying when I had a very good feeling with the car. 

"Unfortunately, we didn't do a good job in Q3, but that doesn't matter too much to me because starting 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th, honestly, it's not a big change."