Ferrari is expecting to endure a tough weekend in Monaco this weekend, 12 months on from its triumph at the historic venue.
The Italian squad has struggled for form across the opening seven rounds of the season and currently sit fourth in the constructors' championship.
It has largely endured pace challenges across qualifying laps, a matter that reached a low point last time out at Imola.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc failed to advance into the top 10 shootout on Saturday before working their way up to the points in the grand prix.
Ferrari's qualifying pain does not bode well for Monaco, where grid position is crucial as overtaking chances are very few during the race.
Last year, Leclerc triumphed on home soil for the first time as he converted his pole position into victory.
When asked for his expectations regarding Monaco this time around, Leclerc told media including RacingNews365: “A very difficult weekend.
“I think Monaco will expose quite a few weaknesses of our car.
“There are also a lot of things you can’t expect in Monaco with the amount of risk you take in qualifying.
“The car is set up in a very different way so I hope it will surprise us.
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Lewis Hamilton signals new Ferrari methods in play
The upcoming round at Monaco will be Hamilton's first as a Ferrari driver following his switch from Mercedes.
The circuit is not one of Hamilton's most successful during his illustrious career, with his last triumph at the venue coming in 2019.
As he continues to embed himself into the Ferrari set-up, Hamilton suggested he will trial a fresh approach to the Monaco event.
“I’m not sure either to be honest,” Hamilton stated when asked to predict Ferrari's Monaco form.
“We’ve been struggling, particularly on a single lap. So I don’t know how that’s going to go.
“I’ve got some ideas that I’m going to try to apply next week that people have been a little bit reluctant to do, because we’ve had lots of other things to focus on.
“But I’m hoping next week we can find something to unlock some more performance. I really don’t know how this car’s going to be.”
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they are joined by former Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski to look back on Imola and look ahead to Monaco! Max Verstappen's victory is a lead talking point, as is McLaren suffering a surprise defeat.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
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