Charles Leclerc makes Ferrari declaration despite surprise F1 turnaround

Charles Leclerc has declared that he is still not "at the level where I want to perform" despite his recent upturn in form for Ferrari.

The Monegasque struggled around the time of the Monaco, Canadian, and Barcelona Grands Prix in the SF-26, and specifically on the brakes, as he also battled a loss of balance and feeling in the car.

On Friday evening of the British GP, Leclerc discovered something in the Ferrari data which unlocked his understanding of where he needed to change his driving style to access the performance in the car - and used this fresh knowledge to out-qualify Lewis Hamilton at his home race, and then convert into a victory.

At the Belgian GP, with Ferrari expected to struggle owing to a lack of top-end straight line speed compared to Mercedes, Leclerc was able to finish second and within two seconds of Kimi Antonelli after being passed with 10 laps to go after inheriting the lead due to a virtual safety car pit-stop.

After banking successive podiums for the first time in 2026, Leclerc explained that whilst he has made a step forward in his understanding, he is not quite where he needs to be. 

"I’m confident in saying that I made a step forward. Whether I’m at the level where I want to perform, not yet," Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365, with Leclerc now 33 points behind Hamilton in the drivers' standings, who is currently second.

"There are still things in the car that I need to drive around. I cannot drive completely naturally, and that is slowing me down in some parts of the race. 

"So, there are still things that I’ve got to work on in order to be better. But surely it was a step forward, and for that I’m happy.

"I’ll continue with the one-race-at-a-time approach because, with these cars, it’s very difficult to be confident that if one race weekend goes well, the other one will, because it relies on such small details. 

"With what you do with your driving, it’s never a given that you get the same deployment from one lap to the other, and that’s maybe the frustrating bit about these cars."