Charles Leclerc “a step back” from Lewis Hamilton after disappointing sprint result

Charles Leclerc has admitted that his struggles in the Chinese sprint were due to him and not the car.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has laid the blame on himself for his fifth-place finish in the Chinese sprint race after his new team-mate Lewis Hamilton secured his first sprint win with the team.

The Monegasque driver had already warned of his recurring struggles, specifically between Turns 1-3, at the Shanghai International Circuit after sprint qualifying yesterday, explaining to the media:

"I struggled on my side of the garage. From the beginning, I felt like I was a step back compared to Lewis and Lewis was just faster today.

"I struggled a lot in Turns 1, 2 and 3, which is more or less the same struggles I had as last year, so that's a bit of a shame but apart from that, everything was quite tight."

After starting the race from fourth on the grid, Leclerc lost his place to Mercedes driver George Russell to finish in fifth. Speaking to the media after the 19-lap sprint race, the Ferrari driver explained that he took a slightly different direction in setup compared to Hamilton. However, he still lays the blame for not achieving a higher finish on himself.

"I wouldn't really blame the car because Lewis is doing a great job with it, so for me, it's me really, until now I haven't been comfortable with the car as it is," Leclerc said.

"I took a slightly different direction compared to Lewis in terms of setup, but I don't think it's all in there. I just really struggle on this track historically, and there's no exception this weekend, but it's not an excuse. I need to react and qualifying would be a good start to turn things around."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Although Leclerc was not happy with his fifth-place finish, the Maranello outfit scored 12 points in the sprint race. The team has enjoyed a turnaround from its struggles in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last week when Leclerc crossed the line in eighth position and Hamilton in tenth.

Qualifying is set to take place in a few hours, at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT), which will determine the starting grid for the Chinese Grand Prix tomorrow.