Charles Leclerc’s point of view on the difficulties of the Red in the chase to Mercedes: what needs to be improved?
Ferrari has been the protagonist of a positive start to the season, but still far off in performance compared to the dominant Mercedes, the undisputed queen of the first three Grands Prix with George Russell’s victory in Melbourne, and the extraordinary successes of Kimi Antonelli first in China and then in Japan.
Now the Scuderia, with three podiums to its credit including Lewis Hamilton’s first, will have to know how to intervene on the car by taking advantage of the forced break from the track, which will last until the beginning of May when the Circus will stop in Miami. And Leclerc, meanwhile, points out the real extra gear of the Silver Arrows in this first phase of the 2026 world championship.
“I think that in these first three races, looking back, there is one clear aspect where we need to improve, and it is surely the power unit,” says Charles. “even though clearly we won’t be able to bring anything new to Miami. But it’s not just that, and in a year like this everything is new. I think that the rate of improvement of every team is accelerated, so there is much more than just the engine.”
“There is the aspect regarding having the tires in the right operating window, there is the aerodynamics, the chassis, and we will work hard on this to try to reduce the gap to Mercedes as much as possible and stay ahead of McLaren, then we’ll see.”
“However yes, I think that the power unit is our main weakness at the moment, but there are many other things that can have an influence and help us close the gap in the meantime,” specified the #16 of Ferrari while waiting to return to the track next month.
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari HP.
