Charles Leclerc (Ferrari/8th): “It goes from one extreme to the other”

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc started the Austrian Grand Prix from second on the grid – only to finish a disappointing eighth at the Red Bull Ring. What happened? After the race, the Monegasque driver seemed at a loss, searching for explanations for the drop in performance himself.

Leclerc: “It was just an incredibly difficult race. Overall, I had very, very little grip. I struggled a lot to get the car and the tyres into the right working range, especially the rear tyres. There’s still a lot of work to be done. At the moment, there’s always a reason why it’s difficult, and that probably means I don’t yet have a clear picture of what I need from this car. I still need to figure that out.”

What worked on Saturday didn’t work on Sunday

On Saturday, the Scuderia put in a really good performance: Leclerc set the second-fastest time in qualifying behind Russell’s fabulous lap. Lewis Hamilton came third. But on Sunday in the Grand Prix, everything was different. Leclerc: “I thought I’d been on the right track on Saturday; I was quite happy with the car, but in the race things didn’t go in the right direction at all.”

Fluctuations in the car’s behaviour

The Monegasque driver offered an explanation: “A lot of it has to do with understeer. I also think the car’s characteristics are fluctuating a lot this year, because this weekend we were much more on the defensive, especially in the race. We weren’t too bad in qualifying, mind you, but overall we were less competitive. It’s a bit of everything, but it’s probably down to the car’s balance.”

He seems a bit at a loss: “It’s hard for us to understand too. I mean, on Saturday the car was quite good on a light fuel load, in my opinion; the front end was pretty strong, and I like that, but in the race the front end stayed strong, yet the rear end had no grip – so it’s a balance you have to find, which is particularly difficult with this car.”

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Read more

TV program

Today

Budapest: Das Rennen Re-Live

FIA Formula One World Championship

26.07.2026 - 17:15

Fluctuations in the pecking order

Leclerc: “Overall, I find it difficult to make sense of the order in the championship standings this year. It swings from one extreme to the other, and when a team seems to be struggling massively one weekend, they look very strong again the following weekend. That’s been the case recently – more so in recent years than in the past, when the hierarchy was easier to understand. Now it’s very tricky. If you compare Barcelona with here, there’s been a big fluctuation in our performance.”

Among other things, Ferrari brought an upgraded engine to Spielberg. Leclerc said, however, that this was unlikely to have anything to do with the fluctuations: “The upgrades we brought with us were fairly straightforward, and we knew what we had to do with them. They’re not the sort of upgrades where you have to change the philosophy behind the car’s set-up, so I don’t think that’s the case.” This weekend it’s off to Silverstone – and into the next extreme?