Leclerc downcast over "huge" gap to McLaren but approves new Ferrari F1 car suspension

Charles Leclerc was disappointed by a "huge" deficit to McLaren in Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix sprint qualifying, despite being aided by Ferrari's new rear suspension package.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri took pole by almost half a second over Max Verstappen; despite running with more downforce than the Red Bull and thus losing time in the opening sector, Piastri got on level terms out of Malmedy and then created a 0.4s swing through Les Fagnes and Stavelot.

Ferrari also appeared to have run less downforce versus McLaren, demonstrated by a shrinking deficit further along the Kemmel Straight. The gap between Leclerc and Piastri grew from 0.05s by the start of sector two to 0.561s by the end of the middle split. Leclerc was ultimately 0.768s behind Piastri at the end of the lap.

Although Leclerc feels that Ferrari's long-awaited rear suspension package has offered a little more feeling to the rear end of his Ferrari, he said that seeing the gap exerted on the rest of the field by McLaren had somewhat taken the shine off.

"I felt the changes, but the thing is that today the gap is huge," Leclerc said. "I'm sure we did a step forward, but for some reason the McLaren seems to be even faster than usual around this track. So it's a bit disappointing on that side of things.

"But I think what we were searching for with those upgrades, we had it. It's just a shame to have such a difficult qualifying session, especially in terms of gaps."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Leclerc said that, with the changes to the rear suspension, the main issue was now one of outright grip - be that through mechanical means or aerodynamic downforce.

The Monegasque put his car fourth on the grid for the Spa-Francorchamps sprint race and will start between Lando Norris and the impressive Esteban Ocon, who made the most of an ultra-low downforce aero set-up.

"Again, the feeling was pretty good, which it's a mixed feeling - on one side, I'm happy that the car feels better. On the other, even if the car feels actually pretty good, we are still seven tenths off, which is a huge amount of time," he said.

"Yes, it's a long track, but still it's a big amount of time. So there's a lot of work to be done, for sure.

"We just need to add grip to this car. I don't think we do anything particularly wrong, but we just need more grip that we don't seem to have for now."

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in the opening part of sprint qualifying after suffering through a session defined by misfortune. He carried too much speed through Stavelot on his opening run and narrowly evaded the gravel, and then sustained a rear locking issue in his final lap.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images

The rear of the car swung around as he attempted to brake for the final chicane, prompting the Ferrari driver to skitter into the run-off.

"Tomorrow's a new day - obviously I'm massively frustrated as a lot of work's gone in and to be there is not really great, so hopefully tomorrow will be better," he said.