Leclerc braced for further Ferrari pain 'after paying the price'

Charles Leclerc is bracing for Ferrari's weaknesses to be "most visible" in Belgium after "paying the price" in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari brought a floor update to the Hungaroring in a bid to try and undo the bouncing that has been reintroduced into the SF-24 after a Spanish GP upgrade, with Leclerc qualifying in sixth place, nearly two-tenths slower than Carlos Sainz, who himself was four-and-a-half-tenths down on pole-sitter Lando Norris in fourth. 

In the race, the car swapped positions with Leclerc banking fourth, passing Max Verstappen after his off after colliding with Lewis Hamilton on a day he felt the car had decent pace, but was left lamenting the qualifying deficit in the machine.

"It was good, but that is not enough to satisfy me," Leclerc told media including RacingNews365. 

"Looking at the overall picture, we are still lacking a lot of qualifying pace compared to our main competitors, and so on tracks like this, we will pay the price.

"So I think we had a strong car, but don't think we could have done much more considering our starting position. 

"The qualifying pace, especially with Carlos who did a very good lap, I think is the gap, and on a track like this, we were four-tenths behind and I don't think there was much more in the car. 

"Spa is going to be a real test for us because it is probably the track where I expect our issues to be most visible.

"We will see if we have the confirmation that there is a lot of work to do before we get our issues fixed and whether the upgrades of this weekend helped us to make a step forward."

Leclerc's Hungarian GP

As for his actual race, Leclerc was pleasantly surprised at how Ferrari could follow the Mercedes of Hamilton in the opening stages in the dirty air, but was not pleased with a strategy call ahead of the final stint.

"The pace was quite strong, but at a track like Budapest, it is very difficult to actually overtake, but we were in a good place," he added.

"The first and second stints were strong, but then we had to make a choice for the last stint to whether we box with Lewis and took the place with Max, or whether we stayed out with Max.

"We decided to come in, which I think was a bad choice, and that made our last stint very tricky because I was on very used mediums when Max came back, but the pace was there.

"We expected it to be close, but I felt like we had a bit of an edge because, on a track where dirty air is so detrimental for the car behind, I felt like I could follow quite nicely.