Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Charles Leclerc has urged Ferrari to investigate a suspected power unit issue that affected his performance during Sprint Qualifying for the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit.
The Monegasque driver could only secure sixth place on the grid for the Sprint race, finishing approximately one second behind pole-sitter George Russell, who delivered the fastest lap for Mercedes.
Early in the session Ferrari appeared capable of challenging Mercedes for the front positions. However, it was ultimately McLaren that emerged as the closest competitor, with reigning world champion Lando Norris qualifying third.
Leclerc revealed that during his final attempt in SQ3 he unexpectedly lost around half a second of lap time on the long back straight, a problem that left him both confused and frustrated.
“[It was a] very frustrating session,” Leclerc said.
“First the toggle, then unfortunately when I had a good lap, I lost half a second in the back straight for whatever reason on the second lap in SQ3.”
“So we want to analyse that and try to understand what has gone wrong.”
At the previous round in Australia, Leclerc had been engaged in an early-race battle with Russell before differing strategies widened the gap between them.
Although Ferrari appeared off the pace in single-lap performance during Sprint Qualifying, the 28-year-old believes the team may be more competitive during the race itself.
“It doesn't really change the picture from where we are. In the race, we should be a bit stronger than where we were now in qualifying,” he explained.
“However, Mercedes seems to be still a step ahead in qualifying.”
“For some reason, the Mercedes power unit finds a lot of lap time. We don't quite find that amount of lap time just yet in qualifying.”
“In the race we are closer, so I'm hopeful we can come back tomorrow.”
Ferrari will now analyse the data overnight to determine the cause of the performance drop as the team prepares for the Sprint race and the main qualifying session later in the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
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