'Realistic' Leclerc expects another Q2 exit for Ferrari at Monza

Charles Leclerc expects to record back-to-back Q2 exits for Ferrari by following up the disappointment of Belgium with another underwhelming display on home soil.

In failing to qualify for the top-10 shoot-out, Ferrari was absent from the final phase of qualifying for the first time since the 2014 British Grand Prix.

Struggling for straight-line pace in Belgium, Leclerc and team-mate Sebastian Vettel could manage to qualify 13th and 14th, and despite an okay showing in ninth and 12th in practice for the Italian Grand Prix, Leclerc was pessimistic about the chances of making the top 10 on Saturday.

Without writing of the chances of a Q3 appearance entirely, Leclerc said: "Hopefully [we'll make it] into Q3 but I think it will be very close. For now, realistically, I don't think we have the performance to get into Q3, but we are close to it."

Offering an overview of the Friday sessions, he explained: "I think we expected a bit worse on the low-fuel runs. But then on the high-fuel we expected a bit better looking at the low-fuel runs. We definitely need to try to find something for the race, otherwise it’s going to be very, very difficult.

"We seem to struggle quite a lot with the balance and the overall degradation of the tyre during the high-fuel run. So there’s quite a lot of work on that but quite positive to see our qualifying pace."

Vettel has appeared to struggle more with the SF1000 than his team-mate across the season so far, a trend that again showed during the first two practice sessions at Monza.

"The car is difficult to drive but, as I said, it is not the first time," said Vettel. "So where we'e lacking I think we're losing down the straights which I think is expected but in terms of where we want to have a better car to driver, were lacking grip on corner entry.

"Pretty much all four wheels the car is sliding. It's a handful.

"It's very difficult to get everything right, to get the lap together, but we're trying to make it a bit better for tomorrow."

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