{"id":404169,"date":"2025-09-07T02:37:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404169\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T02:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:37:14","slug":"i-couldnt-do-more-charles-leclerc-disappointed-but-not-surprised-as-he-settles-for-p4-on-grid-at-ferraris-home-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404169\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I couldn\u2019t do more\u2019 \u2013 Charles Leclerc \u2018disappointed but not surprised\u2019 as he settles for P4 on grid at Ferrari\u2019s home race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has made it clear that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t do much more\u201d after finishing Saturday\u2019s Qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix in a \u201cdisappointing but not surprising\u201d fourth place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Leclerc suggested pole position <a class=\"text-brand-hot-red underline decoration-1 hover:decoration-[3px]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/leclerc-believes-monza-pole-is-on-the-cards-after-ferraris-encouraging.5w86iPYv6u471pZyRaoSC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">could be \u201con the cards\u201d<\/a> for Ferrari following a positive first day at Monza, but he ultimately had to settle for a second-row grid slot behind Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen and McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Asked if he was disappointed not to be in the fight for pole, having finished just over two-tenths away from Verstappen\u2019s time, Leclerc replied: \u201cYeah, disappointed but not surprised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cIt was always going to be very difficult to fight with the top three. We knew that the Red Bull and the McLaren had something more than us for this weekend, and unfortunately that proved to be the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cNot much we can do more, especially in a Qualifying like this\u2026 I think the lap was great and I couldn\u2019t do much more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Asked about his prospects for Sunday, and whether Ferrari\u2019s race pace might be stronger, last year\u2019s Monza winner added: \u201cI hope so, I hope so. Overtaking is not going to be easy. I hope that staying within the DRS (Drag Reduction System) range of the guys in front can help us to go away with them and to do something special, but it\u2019s going to be tough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Leclerc\u2019s team mate, Lewis Hamilton, was a tenth further back in fifth position, but the seven-time World Champion will lose five places on the grid <a class=\"text-brand-hot-red underline decoration-1 hover:decoration-[3px]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/hamilton-hit-with-five-place-grid-penalty-for-italian-grand-prix.5C1Sie7Rwr55bNtywE8YTt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">due to his grid penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cI think it\u2019s generally been a better weekend,\u201d he reflected. \u201cIt was definitely a solid Qualifying. I felt like I got pretty much most that I wanted out of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cI think at the end, the last lap\u2026 the last lap just never is as good as you hope it\u2019d be, and that\u2019s something I\u2019ve got to work on for sure with the balance that I have with the car. Otherwise, it was okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Previewing his first Monza race as a Ferrari driver, and with that penalty in mind, Hamilton said: \u201cI\u2019m so excited. Every time I get on track it\u2019s just crazy. You get to Turn 1 and you see the crowd left and right, and they jump to their feet, so the support is like nothing I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cWe don\u2019t have the pace that we would like to fight the cars ahead. To have fourth and fifth\u2026 Charles really feels comfortable mostly in this car, as he\u2019s been here for such a long time and does a great job, but I\u2019m grateful that I could at least be there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cObviously this penalty puts me further back, but I\u2019ll try and work my way through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has made it clear that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t do much more\u201d after finishing Saturday\u2019s Qualifying&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-404169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115160694373818373","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}