Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc opens up about Imola results, blames qualification strategy for third position

Ahead of the Imola GP 2024, the Italian squad Ferrari was in buzz for testing and bringing an upgraded car. They bought as many as eight major upgrades in their SF24 and were looking for a glorious home run. However, Charles Leclerc earned third position in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after a thrilling battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris for the checkered flag. 

After the race, Leclerc spoke about the issue and said that their strategy during the qualification round and held them back from gaining at Imola. "Looking back at yesterday, reanalyzing qualifying. I think we lost everything at the launch for some reason," he said.

"We had a slightly different power strategy compared to McLaren and Red Bull, and we lost everything on the run down to Turn 2 - Max, on top of that, had the slipstream. This is something we'll have to look into because, especially on a track like this, track position is everything.” 

“When you only have a tenth in between Red Bull, McLaren, and ourselves, we need to do everything perfectly and the third place today cost us maybe a better result in the race”, he further added. 

“It's not the best track to judge upgrades”, says Leclerc 

Discussing his initial thoughts on Ferrari's extensive suite of upgrades for the Imola race, Leclerc noted that the unique challenges of the Imola circuit made it hard to evaluate their effectiveness. However, he expressed confidence that the team had met its goals with the new bodywork, floor, and wings introduced for their home race.

"I think first of all, it's not the best track to judge upgrades, mostly because kerb-riding is such a thing here that if you have a good car on kerbs, then that could hide a bit more what is the real order," the Monegasque said.

"The good thing is that everything we expected from those upgrades, we had it in terms of data. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, which is always a good thing." Now, the team would be keen to improve their speed and performance at Monaco next week.