Charles Leclerc made a ‘worrying’ point after a difficult qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins says.
Leclerc will start eighth, his lowest qualifying position of the season, for Sunday’s race.
And speaking in Sky’s post-qualifying show, Collins flagged up one concern in particular for the Monegasque.
Leclerc was only able to do one run in the final part of qualifying, while most of his rivals did two.
This was because he’d had to use an extra set of tyres to ensure progression from Q1.
The 26-year-old had qualified on the front row at the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and was fifth last time out in Australia.
Teammate Carlos Sainz, who led home Leclerc to win the race in Melbourne, will start four spots higher.
Sainz’s 1:28.682 was only around a tenth faster, but Leclerc finds himself behind Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton.
Bernie Collins says Charles Leclerc warm-up struggles are a concern
Over the course of Saturday’s running, Leclerc tried numerous approaches on his out laps trying to get the car in the optimal window.
Former Aston Martin strategist Collins believes those preparatory moments are vitally important.
As such, she says Leclerc’s lack of certainty and consistency is ‘not a great starting point’.
“It’s a bit worrying to hear Charles Leclerc talking about trying different things on the out lap, trying different tyre preparation,” Collins said.
“Tyre preparation is everything in F1. Your out-lap is so important. That’s why we see them going so slowly out of the pit lane. It is about getting exactly the right temperature in the tyres, exactly the right charge in the battery, the engine at the right temperatures.
“So much goes into getting the perfect lap that if you’re trying different things on every out lap, that’s not a great starting point.”
Sainz on top in Ferrari battle
Ferrari have already confirmed that Sainz will leave the team at the end of the season, while Leclerc will stay alongside the incoming Hamilton.
But up to this point in the season, it’s the Spaniard who has been able to extract more from the SF-24.
He may be seven points behind his teammate in the standings, but that’s after missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix through illness.
The 29-year-old now leads the Saturday head-to-head for the season 2-1, having lost that battle 15-7 last year.
Coming into the weekend, journalist Lawrence Barretto said Leclerc was lacking confidence behind the wheel, and those issues have seemingly continued.
Martin Brundle says it must have ‘hurt’ the five-time Grand Prix winner to see Sainz claim the victory in Melbourne.
Leclerc insists his close competition with the former McLaren driver is ‘exciting’, but Ferrari will expect him to assert his supremacy before long.
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