Charles Leclerc was left to rue a disappointing Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a race in which he laboured to eighth place with what he described as a “complete disaster” of a car beneath him.
The Monegasque was in chipper mood upon arrival in Sao Paulo, having welcome his first child, Bianca, earlier in the week.
But once it got down to business, things went sour, as an engine-related grid penalty saw him relegated 10 places, leaving him in 13th on the grid after a strong qualifying showing.
In the race, things failed to improve by much, as he was unable to extract sufficient heat out of his Intermediate tyres during the first stint, and was quickly overtaken by teammate Lewis Hamilton, who started 20th due to a total PU change penalty.
It was a race of contrasts for Leclerc and Hamilton, the latter suffering with perhaps some slow reactions to the elements by the pit wall.
For Leclerc, he conveyed his pleasure in the team’s handling of his own situation, but explained that he, unlike Hamilton, struggled hugely on his first stint.
“The execution was okay, but the pace in the first stint was horrendous,” he said.
“Particularly at the start, we had so much struggle getting those tyres up to temperature, it’s unbelievable.
“It’s just undrivable. Lewis definitely found a way because he had an incredible start, but for me, it was just like driving on ice.
“Later on, I had the pace but we had very little free air, and we also lost a lot of time in the straights.
“The first stint was very poor, the second stint on the soft was actually pretty good. But not much free air.
“At the end, by being patient and making the right choice, we ended up in P7 behind the top three teams.”
‘So much to learn’ for Ferrari – Charles Leclerc
Leclerc was left frustrated as his efforts gave him a meagre eighth place, as Ferrari ceded its challenge in the Constructors’ Championship to Mercedes.
The driveability of the SF-26 has been something that Leclerc has struggled with this year, a role-reversal from last year, with Hamilton finding things a little easier on his side.
And in summarising the problems, Leclerc gave an uncompromising verdict.
“There is so much to learn. For qualifying, there are things we can learn from and do better.
“For [the race], and still in qualifying, I felt like we are going into the rain and it’s like a coin-flip. Maybe we end up on the right side of things, or we end up on the [wrong side].
“It’s just a complete disaster to drive. We’ve got a lot of work to do on that side.”
READ MORE – F1 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Race Results
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