Leclerc praying to see "light at end of the tunnel" for Ferrari

Ferrari

Leclerc praying to see "light at end of the tunnel" for Ferrari

Ferrari qualify outside the top 10 at Monza for the first time since 1984

Nicolas Quarles van Ufford

Saturday 5 September 2020 17:50 Updated: 18:18

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Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc hopes to see a "light at the end of the tunnel" in the near future after another dismal qualifying performance at the Italian Grand Prix.

For the first time since 1984, no Ferrari will start a home race from inside the top 10 as Leclerc qualified in 13th and team-mate Sebastian Vettel in 17th.

Leclerc qualified almost a full second slower than he did when claiming pole position at Monza last year. The Monegasque admitted the team's struggles are more prominent at their home track.

"It hurts even more when it’s at home.

"But it’s a reality at the moment for us, unfortunately. It’s like this. We need to work, and hopefully from Mugello, which is still home for Ferrari, hopefully, we’ll be a bit better than here.

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"I hope that from next race onwards we’ll see a light at the end of the tunnel. For now, that’s two very tough weekends for us where we are trying many things on the car but we don’t find a way through for now.

"We need to keep our heads down, stay motivated, and better days will be coming, I’m sure," he told Sky Sports F1.

Leclerc took pole position seven times in 2019, more than any other driver that year, but his best qualifying result in 2020 so far was a fourth at Silverstone.

But after a poor performance at the Belgian Grand Prix last week - another low downforce circuit - Leclerc conceded the team knew what was coming before they hit the track at Monza.

"At the end, we expected it a little bit coming into the weekend.

"We know that Spa and here are probably the two worst tracks for us. With another one probably later in the year. But it’s like this.

"It’s tough, because once you do a good lap and you do P13 it doesn’t feel good. But for now it’s like this, and I need to extract the maximum out of the car in the situation we are in, and that’s what I’m trying to do," the 22-year-old concluded.

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