Leclerc Expresses Frustration Over Ferrari's Power Unit Issues in Sprint Qualifying

Charles Leclerc expressed his disappointment with the performance of his Ferrari car during the Sprint Qualifying session.

Leclerc complained about the operation of his Ferrari car after the Sprint Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Monaco driver had a disappointing Sprint Qualifying in Shanghai, finishing sixth and over a second behind George Russell, who took the pole for Mercedes.

Leclerc also trailed behind the McLaren duo and his Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who finished fourth, 0.4 seconds ahead.

After the SQ3 session, Leclerc vented his frustration over the team radio, reporting that he lost a lot of time on the back straight due to issues with the deployment of Ferrari's Power Unit.

'What's actually happening? I'm losing around four tenths of a second on the back straight,' Leclerc complained.

Leclerc appeared frustrated when speaking to the media after the Sprint Qualifying, regretting what had become a 'very disappointing session.'

'Unfortunately, when I had a good lap, I lost half a second on the back straight for some reason on the second lap in SQ3,' he explained.

'So we'll analyze that and try to understand what went wrong.'

Despite being far behind Mercedes, Leclerc still hopes that Ferrari can be more competitive in the race.

'It doesn't actually change the picture from where we are now,' Leclerc said.

'In the race, we should be relatively stronger than our current position in qualifying, but Mercedes seem to have the upper hand in qualifying.'

Leclerc admitted he was puzzled by Mercedes' advantage in terms of power and performance, especially in a single lap.

'For some reason, the Mercedes Power Unit is able to cut a lot of time, '

'We haven't been able to cut as much time in qualifying, but in the race, we're closer. So I hope we can make up for it tomorrow.'

Meanwhile, Hamilton acknowledged that Ferrari needs to 'work hard' to reduce the power deficit with Mercedes.

'We still have a lot of work to do. We really need to work hard in Maranello to increase our power,' he said.

'It's something that I think we realized last year, that Mercedes started earlier than us or the others - which they also did last time [in 2014].'

'So they've done a fantastic job and we need to work hard to close that gap.'

'The car feels great and I think we can compete with them in the corners, but when you're down on power, that's it.'