Charles Leclerc has insisted Ferrari shouldn’t pivot all attention to Formula 1‘s regulation change in 2026 until the team can no longer win a title in the current season.
Ferrari has endured a discouraging beginning to the campaign with a capricious SF-25 car that hasn’t built upon the promise that its predecessor showed late in 2024.
The Italian marque sits in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship with five rounds completed, a considerable 110 points behind reigning champions McLaren.
However, Leclerc, who dispelled Ferrari’s podium drought with a sublime weekend in Saudi Arabia, hasn’t given up on returning the ultimate prize to Maranello in 2025.
Leclerc has pinned his dwindling hopes on the developments that Ferrari plans to unleash at Imola and the subsequent clampdown on flexing front wings from Spain.
But in the scenario where it continues to trail behind pacesetters McLaren, Leclerc has recognised that Ferrari would be wise to pour resources into the 2026 creation.
When asked whether he would consider Ferrari’s season a missed opportunity without a title based on where it ended the previous campaign, Leclerc replied: “For it to be a missed opportunity, there needs to be an opportunity at one point, but for now we haven’t been at the level where we wanted to be from the beginning of the season.
“It’s still a long season and we shouldn’t give up for sure. We are going to push until the very end, but I think one can go with the other as well.
“We very often say, let’s switch to next year’s car straight away.
“I think these kinds of things are more and more with the new structures in Formula 1, [they] can go parallel to one another.
“I don’t think you can be extreme in one way or the other.
“So yeah, it doesn’t mean that we are only focusing on this season, forgetting about next season, or vice versa.
“We are trying to do the best in both worlds; we’ll see where that leads us.
“Then, of course, as soon as the chances of a championship this year is not possible anymore, it probably makes sense to fully focus on ’26.”
Leclerc denies motivation could wane
Leclerc has denied that his motivation will wane should Ferrari’s prospects not improve, citing that he relishes the challenge of beating rivals with superior equipment.
“At least for me it’s not really a challenge,” he expressed.
“I mean I am always fully motivated to extract the maximum out of my car, no matter where that brings me.
“Of course, you are always disappointed when you do everything perfect and the best result achievable is P4.
“But then you go back into the car the next race and, at least for me, I still have the full motivation to try and do something special and to maybe win a race with a car that is less good than the people around me.
“So that’s where I find my motivation is to try to outperform whenever I can; so motivation won’t be a problem.”
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