Charles Leclerc secured fourth place on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix. But the significant gap to Mercedes is already causing serious concern at Ferrari.
Read more Violent crash for Kimi Antonelli during EL3 in Melbourne
The qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix did not fully meet Ferrari’s expectations. On the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Charles Leclerc qualified fourth, a decent result on paper but far from satisfying for the Monegasque driver.
Leclerc was notably beaten by Isack Hadjar, who delivered a remarkable performance in his first qualifying session with Red Bull Racing. According to the Ferrari driver, this situation is more related to a poorly executed session than to any real superiority from the direct competition.
“Unfortunately, it’s what I had a feeling about since yesterday. I was expecting a gap of about six-tenths, not eight,” explained Leclerc after the session.
The Monegasque even believes that Ferrari should have been fighting for third place on the grid: “We didn’t optimize everything. If we had executed the session perfectly, third place should have been ours.”
Mercedes “untouchable” according to Ferrari
Despite his disappointment, Leclerc did not hesitate to praise the performance of Isack Hadjar, who managed to climb ahead of him during this highly contested session.
“Isack was impressive for a first qualifying with Red Bull. It’s deserved, they were better than us today.”
Ferrari now hopes to make up for it in the race, even if the situation seems much more worrying against Mercedes. The real shock of this qualifying indeed came from the impressive dominance of the Silver Arrows. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli dominated the session, leaving their rivals several tenths behind.
Read more Australian GP — FP3: Mercedes strikes hard, huge crash for Antonelli
For Leclerc, the observed gap is simply enormous: “Regarding the Mercedes, I think there isn’t much to be done for now. The gap is massive.”
On the side of team principal Frédéric Vasseur, the observation is similar: Mercedes currently seems to be operating in a league of its own.
Limited hope for a good start
Ferrari remains well-known for the quality of its starts. However, Leclerc prefers to temper hopes of an immediate turnaround as soon as the lights go out.
According to him, Mercedes could quickly resolve any potential tire warm-up difficulties.
“As I said before the weekend, once Mercedes manages to get into the right window, everything works for them too.”
“It’s sometimes more complicated for them to achieve it, but I’m quite sure they will. I don’t think there will be a big difference at the start.”
An observation that perfectly illustrates the challenge facing Ferrari to close the gap with the Silver Arrows at the start of this 2026 Formula 1 season.
Read more Lewis Hamilton reveals an unlikely anecdote… about his cow named «Max»