Leclerc: "Hard to find any positives" on day of Ferrari woe

Charles Leclerc was left struggling to find any positives as Formula 1 giant Ferrari endured a miserable qualifying session ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

For the first time since joining the team, on pace alone, Vettel failed to make it into Q3, with the four-time champion starting 11th and Leclerc seventh after edging out his team-mate in Q2.

Ferrari has admitted to a complete rethink in its chassis development after negative results in pre-season testing, but few expected to see the Scuderia outpaced by both Racing Point and McLaren.

“For now, it’s not an easy qualifying for us," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1. "Unfortunately that is where we are at at the moment.

"But we need to try to stay positive at this moment where it is hard to find any positive. I think this is the way forward to work properly and to try and get out of these hard times.

“Yes, it is difficult, but we need to try and work as a team and be as strong as possible tomorrow to try and cheer everyone up.”

For Vettel, it underlined his remarks after practice on Friday that Ferrari could forget fighting for pole, with the 33-year-old German far off the pace of Mercedes' front-row duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

“Of course, it’s a surprise,"said Vettel. "We thought that we had a little bit more in hand, but it looks like the others were probably running a little bit more fuel or were more conservative in practice.

“I wasn’t quite happy with the car. More oversteer on entry than I would like, but we’ll see. I think tomorrow is a different picture.

“Maybe with the track getting a bit hotter, it will be a bit more positive than it was today.”

Before you go...

Ferrari suffer qualifying shocker as Bottas takes pole in Austria

Hamilton's $40m salary "unacceptable" but Grosjean sees flipside

Related

F1 Superstars

Ferrari star SLAMMED with bizarre 'puppy' reference

• November 20, 2024 22:57

Ferrari

Leclerc 'set' for NEW Ferrari role from 2025

• November 20, 2024 13:59