Charles Leclerc puzzled by "very strange" Ferrari step on tough Austrian GP weekend

Charles Leclerc said he was positively surprised by Ferrari's Austria pace after team was "lost" in practice, with he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton qualifying second and third

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says he was very surprised to be leapfrogging McLaren as Mercedes' closest rival at the Austrian Grand Prix, with the Scuderia looking lost on Friday.

Leclerc in particular struggled with the handling of his recently upgraded SF-26 in FP2, having ceded his car to rookie driver Dino Beganovic in FP1. The Monegasque driver reported four-wheel sliding through the Red Bull Ring's faster corners in Spielberg's searing heat.

In qualifying both Ferraris came alive with Leclerc and Hamilton taking second and third behind Mercedes' poleman George Russell, although they benefitted from the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli mistakenly aborting his final lap.

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But crucially, Ferrari outpaced McLaren on Saturday by a tenth and a half, turning around Friday's competitive picture.

"It’s very strange because yesterday was a very tough day for the team," Leclerc said after taking second, 0.236s off pole. "We were struggling a lot as a team and today we took a big step forward. We did not expect to be in front of the McLarens particularly and close to Mercedes, so that’s a good surprise.

"We changed quite a lot, actually. Not big steps, but a little bit everywhere. It ended up being quite a big difference.

"Then for the race in itself, I think we did a step forward with the car for tomorrow. Whether this will be enough to challenge Mercedes, I doubt so. But if there’s an opportunity, I will do everything to take it."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

Leclerc was especially surprised to be second in qualifying because he still doesn't feel entirely comfortable attacking the corners as much as he wants to, having switched to Hamilton's brake configuration in Barcelona.

"After Monaco, there have been many things that have changed and the feeling was better in Barcelona," he explained. "It's still not yet where I want to be.

"In qualifying, I didn't feel as confident as I've been in the past where I just go all in and I know exactly what the car is going to do. This is not the feeling that I have at the moment. And this is where I want to focus on."

Hamilton was appreciative of his squad's overnight turnaround, which he estimated cut Ferrari's deficit to Mercedes in half on the short Austrian circuit.

"These guys have been six tenths quicker than us most of the weekend," the seven-time world champion cautioned as he qualified three tenths behind Russell. "We closed the gap overnight to three tenths. But we still are three tenths down today, or two and a bit, so it's going to be very tough to challenge them tomorrow."

Ferrari brought further aerodynamic refinements to Austria after its wholesale changes in Barcelona. On top of that, it also introduced an engine upgrade and conducted aerodynamic testing in FP1 both with and without its exhaust wing, as an experiment for future events.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

Team boss Fred Vasseur suggested the number of moving parts caused Ferrari to get "a bit lost" on Friday, but praised his team's recovery both trackside and from its remote operations team in Maranello.

"We had a tough FP1, FP2, I think also because we used it as a rookie FP1," Vasseur told Sky. "We had tons of parts to test for this weekend and for the next weekend. And it was a very, very busy Friday for us.

"At the end, we were a bit lost perhaps. But we did a good job at the factory, a good job on track to catch up. And from this morning, we were probably in a slightly better shape."