“Frustrating” understeer limited Ferrari SF-24 performance in qualifying for Italian GP at Monza. The Ferrari SF24 cars has struggled with understeer at Monza.

The fourth place in Monza Qualifying doesn’t satisfy Charles Leclerc, who appeared more angry and disappointed about the unresolved understeer in the first sector that persisted throughout the weekend.

Ferrari is just over a tenth of a second behind the time that earned Lando Norris the pole for the Italian Grand Prix, yet Charles Leclerc struggled to hide his disappointment.

This disappointment, to be clear, is not tied to the fourth place in qualifying in front of the Ferrari fans, but rather to a chronic problem—at least this weekend—of understeer that was evident in the first practice sessions yesterday and was never really fixed by the team.

“We have understeer, and it’s been a problem since the first practice session. We weren’t able to solve it,” Charles Leclerc immediately made clear when he arrived at the press microphones after Monza Qualifying.

The understeer problem, Charles Leclerc says, is something that particularly affected his SF-24. In his opinion, Carlos Sainz performed better in corners where he struggled, especially in the first sector. However, what disappointed him most was the inability to improve the understeer issue, a problem that will also affect his performance in tomorrow’s race.

“At least on my side of the garage, because Carlos was able to go very fast in the first sector, especially in corners 2-3 and 4-5. We took slightly different lines.”

“That’s part of the explanation, but it’s frustrating not to have made progress in those corners. In the end, we lost too much there. We made up time in the other sectors, but not enough.”

Today, the top six in qualifying were separated by just over a tenth of a second. A tight session that suggests an equally uncertain race. Charles Leclerc believes he can have a say, at least in words: because looking at his expression when he said these words, the chances seem much smaller. And McLaren, as he admitted himself, might reveal even greater potential.

“In terms of race pace, we’re all very close. We’ll have to see with McLaren, because yesterday they were running with less aggressive engine maps, so we’ll need to understand how much more potential they’ll have in the race. They will certainly be very fast.” – the Monegasque driver added.

“As for us, we’re hoping the support of the fans and the new package can help us have a good race like we did last week at Zandvoort. We’ll need to try to stay in the DRS zone with the McLarens and try to overtake them.” – Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc concluded.