(Motorsport-Total.com) – While Lewis Hamilton left the Ferrari garage with a broad smile on his face after winning the sprint pole, there was less to celebrate on the other side of the box. Charles Leclerc ended up more than three tenths of a second behind his teammate in the decisive section of the sprint qualifying and had to settle for fourth place on the grid.
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Although Leclerc has often shone in qualifying in recent years – also last season, especially compared to his teammate – the Monegasque believes that the current problems are part of a larger trend. Leclerc is still searching for the right feeling for the SF-26 and has not yet found clear answers.
After the Monaco Grand Prix, he switched from Brembo to carbon industry brake discs. Although his feeling on the brakes has slightly improved as a result, the deeper problems have by no means been solved.
When asked what exactly he lacks compared to Hamilton, the eight-time Grand Prix winner replied: “I’m looking at that closely at the moment. Of course, it has been a while since I realized that I no longer have the same ease that I had with last year’s car. Even when I push and bring everything to the point, we’re talking about hundredths here.”
According to Leclerc, this means there is still work ahead of him – especially to regain the necessary confidence to extract the last percentage points from the Ferrari when it really counts.
“Lewis manages more often to be at 100 percent of the car’s potential, which I don’t achieve. So I really have to work on everything,” said the Ferrari driver.
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However, the picture is not entirely clear. Leclerc explained that he felt comfortable in Austria up to qualifying before race pace on Sunday became the main problem. In Spielberg, he started ahead of Hamilton, but in Silverstone he admitted to struggling significantly more over a single lap than in Austria.
“I think the most important thing is simply my feeling with this car. If you don’t quite get that feeling, it’s difficult to get the lap time out and have the confidence to go to the limit of the car every Saturday in qualifying. And that’s exactly what I’m struggling with,” he admits.
“[It’s about] being consistent to be at my 100 percent. In SQ1 and SQ2 I was close and was also quite confident for SQ3, but then I lost the car. I just don’t feel the car as well as I should.”
| Race | Leclerc (Q) | Hamilton (Q) | Leclerc (R) | Hamilton (R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
| Australia | 4. | 7. (+0.151) | 3. | 4. (+0.6) |
| China | 4. (+0.013) | 3. | 4. (+3.6) | 3. |
| Japan | 4. | 6. (+0.162) | 3. | 6. (+9.8) |
| Miami | 3. | 6. (+0.176) | 7. (+10.5) | 6. |
| Canada | 8. (+0.108) | 5. | 4. (+33.4) | 2. |
| Monaco | 4. (+0.072) | 3. | Retirement | 2. |
| Barcelona | 10. (no time) | 2. | 15. (+4 laps) | 1. |
| Austria | 2. | 3. (+0.059) | 8. (+19.3) | 5. |
The situation is all the more frustrating for Leclerc as Ferrari’s 2026 car obviously has potential. This became clear again on Friday in Silverstone – much to the surprise of many Scuderia employees. Frederic Vasseur’s team had actually expected to have problems on the extremely power-dependent track, but the exact opposite was the case.
“We are extremely surprised that Lewis got pole today, but in general, we expected a much bigger gap to the cars ahead of us,” Leclerc continued. “It’s a good step forward, but yes, as a team, we are just very, very surprised to be so competitive on a track like this.”
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