(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ten laps before the end of the first Formula 1 race on the new Madring, Charles Leclerc was still in the lead – but the Ferrari driver crossed the finish line only in fourth place, 29.1 seconds behind winner Kimi Antonelli. The result was distorted in the meantime mainly due to an offset strategy by Ferrari with a long first stint.
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Leclerc started the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix on hard tires, unlike his teammate Lewis Hamilton (soft). “We took a gamble there, with one car on soft and one on hard, to cover all eventualities,” says team principal Frederic Vasseur. “But the other teams did the same.”
When Lance Stroll triggered the virtual safety car on lap 14 of 57, Leclerc was in fourth place behind Lando Norris, Antonelli, and Max Verstappen. His gap to the lead was 13.8 seconds. Then the top 3 all came into the pits (Norris one lap later than Antonelli and Verstappen) – and when the race was restarted, Leclerc was in P1, with a 2.4-second lead over Antonelli.
The lead first shrank to 0.6 seconds (lap 21), but then grew again to up to 3.9 seconds (lap 23) – presumably also because Antonelli, due to the “virtual” lead, saw no reason to put Leclerc under pressure and take unnecessary risks.
Vasseur satisfied with Ferrari’s race pace
Nevertheless: “That Charles’ pace in the race was more than good is positive,” says Vasseur. “He drove 48 laps on the hard tire, and even at the end the pace was still there.” The numbers show: Until the VSC, Leclerc lost on average almost 0.8 seconds per lap to Antonelli. In the 42 laps after that, only 0.15 seconds.
Ferrari’s calculation to keep him out so long was clear: “Charles was leading the group of those who started on hard. And if there had been a red flag, that would have meant victory,” explains Vasseur. “If it had been a safety car, he would have finished second or third. And so it ended up being fourth place.”
Because: A race interruption due to an accident seemed plausible on the brand-new street circuit in Madrid, and if the red flag had really come, Leclerc would have been allowed to change tires and keep the lead. On the other hand, he had nothing to lose with the long stint as long as the gap to George Russell in the remote duel was large enough. And it was. “That was our strategy. The pace was good, and we couldn’t do more on Sunday,” analyzes Vasseur.
Leclerc: Ferrari’s weakness is qualifying
The “on Sunday” is a crucial addition. Because the Spanish Grand Prix on the Madring, which hardly allowed overtaking, was already decided in qualifying on Saturday: “Our car is a strong race car, but we have to find out how to unlock more performance in qualifying.”
Leclerc had taken fifth place on Saturday, 0.195 seconds behind the pole position time and 0.006 seconds behind Hamilton. If he were in the first row instead of the third, Ferrari might even be capable of winning on its own. Especially since the Scuderia’s starts are still excellent, as Hamilton proved again in Madrid.
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But: “We know that energy deployment causes us more difficulties on Saturday than on Sunday, and we have no quick solution for that,” says Leclerc. “But whatever we can do to find a bit more performance on Saturday will also help us for the race result.”
And he explicitly does not mean tire management: “We are not worse than the others there. But generally, our car is a bit weaker in qualifying than in the race. For example, when you have to attack the curbs with little fuel in the tank. McLaren was very, very strong there – and we less so. We paid the price for that this weekend.”
No tensions with Hamilton this time
In the early phase of the race, Leclerc also lost a bit of time when Hamilton ahead of him struggled with braking problems. On lap 5, he was 1.6 seconds behind Verstappen. When he passed Hamilton, it was 2.3. “He let me through quickly,” waves off Leclerc. “That hardly cost any time, and it wouldn’t have changed anything in my race.”
“We could have done some things differently today, but I think we chose the best option. If I had to do the race again, I would do it the same way,” emphasizes Leclerc. “If I had started on soft, I would have had to run the same strategy as the guys in front of me, and in a race with no overtaking, that wouldn’t have helped. Hard-soft was the right strategy. And waiting for a safety car at the end was exactly the right thing. Even though unfortunately it didn’t come.”
In the meantime, a radio message in the TV broadcast caused amusement when Leclerc wanted to know from his race engineer what it was actually about for him: “I wanted as little communication as possible on such a track,” he grins. “But then I asked who our opponent actually was, because I had no idea in the car.”
“Our pace on the hard tire was pretty strong,” says Leclerc. “In the end, with the soft tires, I couldn’t push as much for other reasons.” When asked what exactly those other reasons were, he waves off: “I can’t reveal that. But it’s okay. It fits for the next race.”
Leclerc is fifth in the 2026 Drivers’ World Championship after 14 Grands Prix with 167 points, 125 points behind leader Antonelli and 24 points behind Hamilton (3rd). The next chance to do better, especially in qualifying, will be in just under two weeks at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
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