Charles Leclerc has defined why he avoided attempting to repeat Lewis Hamilton’s driving model when extracting probably the most out of Ferrari’s 2026 System 1 automobile was tough.
As F1 switched to new laws for this season, Leclerc generally struggled with the Scuderia’s SF-26. After the Monegasque noticeably outperformed team-mate Hamilton final 12 months, their head-to-head has been much more balanced in 2026.
qualifying as one of the simplest ways to guage pure efficiency, Hamilton is up 10-9, whereas Leclerc has been 0.023s sooner on common – however that determine is skewed by the very fact he didn’t set a time when he crashed out of Q3 at Barcelona.
This was throughout the interval the place Leclerc struggled probably the most. He was outqualified 4 occasions throughout the Canadian (grand prix and dash), Monaco and Catalan rounds, whereas scoring simply 16 factors to Hamilton’s 64, as a result of what the 28-year-old described as “one thing that was extraordinarily troublesome to cope with on the automobile” within the Past The Grid podcast. This was compounded by a puzzling crash in his dwelling race, which he blamed on brake provider Brembo.
“When issues do not go nicely, prefer it did in Montreal and Monaco, it is not solely concerning the outcomes,” Leclerc stated. “For Barcelona, it was higher. And Barcelona, after all, in qualifying, I’ve no excuses. That is simply me pushing the restrict an excessive amount of and too far.
“In fact, I used to be dissatisfied, however the feeling was there. So when the sensation is there, you’re much more assured as a driver. However Montreal and Monaco, the sensation was actually not there. Like, regardless of the end result I’ll have accomplished on the Sunday, I did not actually care about this.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
“What’s vital for me is that after I get into the automobile, I get the precise feeling and I do know that I can do my job correctly by driving simply naturally and never overthinking issues.
“And so whenever you’ve acquired two races consecutive the place issues are getting robust and you do not have the sensation, you’ve got acquired two choices, actually. One is to attempt to discover a manner round with the set-up and with the automobile and attempting to suit your pure driving model extra. The opposite is simply change your driving model.
“And in my case, I’ve Lewis as a team-mate, who was having unimaginable type – and who’s in unimaginable type – so I knew that his driving model was working. Certainly it was working,” Leclerc continued, talking forward of the Italian Grand Prix. “So I nonetheless had that possibility on attempting. And I push on the phrase ‘attempting’ as a result of it is at all times troublesome to attempt to reproduce a driving model.
“It isn’t as straightforward as, ‘Oh, Lewis is doing that, I am going to simply do the identical’. Lewis is an extremely proficient driver and has a pure driving model that’s his and he is the perfect on the earth for that exact driving model. And so to breed that may be very tough.
“I attempted to push extra into looking for methods to have this automobile a bit extra fitted to my driving model. And I discovered a couple of issues within the information that have been simply not working.
“Once more, in System 1, it is not at all times black and white. It isn’t such as you sit in entrance of your laptop, take a look at the info and say, ‘Oh, that is one tenth and a half of a second, let’s change that and we’ll achieve one tenth’. It isn’t as straightforward as that. It is instinct, it is feeling, it is issues that you just would possibly assume, ‘Okay, that is what makes me a bit much less comfy within the automobile, and if I enhance that feeling, then efficiency will come’.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Picture by: Madring
“And so I noticed two, three issues on the Friday night time in Silverstone, modified these for the Saturday in qualifying, and the sensation was quite a bit higher and even higher than it was in Barcelona. And from that second, I felt it went in the direction of the precise path.”
Leclerc’s Silverstone breakthrough noticed him qualify on the entrance row for the British Grand Prix, 0.175s down on Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and 0.172s forward of Hamilton. The Ferrari racer took the lead at first and dominated the race to clinch his first victory since 2024.
A swap to Carbone Industrie brake discs is known to have contributed to Leclerc’s upturn in type, which wasn’t a case of returning to the sensation he had on the Melbourne season opener, the place he had claimed an encouraging podium end.
“The automobile is consistently altering, so it is not like I can actually return to that feeling I had in Melbourne. It is evolving,” Leclerc clarified.
“However my purpose is to get into the automobile and never overthink. If you overthink, you already know that you’re shedding time on the desk as a result of our sport is just not quite a bit about reacting on what’s occurring on the automobile. It is extra about anticipating and feeling the automobile yours. I imply, getting right into a nook, I must know precisely the best way the automobile will behave so I haven’t got to overthink about issues.”
Leclerc has been the third-highest scorer since over the most recent six rounds, going again to his Silverstone win, with 88 factors to Antonelli’s 121 and Lando Norris’ 107; his report is tarnished by his early Monza crash solely, as he completed each different race within the prime 5.
In the meantime, Hamilton has scored simply 66 over that interval, although he was taken out of the Madring race by brake points.
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