Charles Leclerc says Ferrari achieved the maximum with fifth during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, as the team continued to struggle to extract one-lap pace from the SF-24.

Having been fourth and fifth respectively in Sprint Qualifying, Ferrari again trailed behind its opponents during qualifying for the Grand Prix on Saturday evening at the Lusail International Circuit – Leclerc finished in fifth position, three-tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen’s pole position time, while Carlos Sainz classified in seventh place.

READ MORE: Verstappen beats Russell to surprise pole position in Qatar by just 0.055s

However, the Scuderia’s main constructors’ rivals McLaren had their duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualify ahead of them in third and fourth, another hit to their title hopes after the earlier Sprint result.

“Both of my laps were really, really good, and there wasn’t much more between them in any of the corners, I was just doing the same lap time, that was the maximum the car could do today,” Leclerc said.