Charles Leclerc Ferrari breakthrough at British GP as new goal set

Charles Leclerc revealed that his feeling was “back” in the Ferrari SF-26 during British Grand Prix qualifying. It was the first time Leclerc experienced it since his drop in form began.

The next goal for Leclerc is to re-find this feeling consistently, after securing a place on the front row for the British Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton, who will launch from P3, said that Leclerc has been making “good improvements” and hopes that they can team up to take on polesitter Kimi Antonelli.

Charles Leclerc reconnects with Ferrari SF-26 at Silverstone

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Leclerc has seen his form collapse in recent rounds. Not since Miami has he crossed the line ahead of Ferrari teammate Hamilton.

But, Leclerc landed an important counterpunch at Silverstone by outqualifying Hamilton on the nine-time British GP winner’s home turf.

It was a breakthrough moment for Leclerc, who declared that his feeling in the car was back.

His next task is to consistently retain that connection with the SF-26.

“I’m pleased,” he said of the achievement.

“It’s been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right, where I was struggling to put everything together.

“On the Sundays, we’ve had things that sometimes we couldn’t score points, so to be back with a good feeling, there’s been so much work behind the scenes to get back that feeling inside the car.

“Today is probably the first time where I had it back. So that is a good thing.

“But at the same time, I know how much I’ve struggled to be consistent recently. So it’s only the beginning, but it’s a good step in the right direction.”

He added: “At the moment I’m obviously trying to look at a bit of everything, because I was losing quite a bit of time.

“I just didn’t have much pace recently, so you’ve got to look at every single thing you do, whether it’s driving style, everything, really.

“We’ve worked, I think, really, really well. I’m happy with that P2, obviously. I wish I was on pole, but Kimi did an incredible lap, and he deserves it.”

Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Leclerc said that “by pushing a bit more everywhere,” he was able to unlock significant pace between his first and second Q3 run, catapulting himself onto the front row.

“That normally means that I know where the limit of the car is, and then for the second run in Q3, it always has been my strength in the past where I get to Q3 and I find something extra for the second run in Q3.

“I had a bit lost that feeling recently. I’ve been working very, very hard to try and get back that feeling. It feels like today, this feeling was back.

“Where I’m focused now is to keep that feeling, because I know how much it relies on fine tuning and small details. But I feel like today we’ve done a step forward.

“My driving style is quite aggressive, which seemed to work quite well at the beginning of the year, but recently, for one reason or another, it was just incredibly difficult to put things together.

“It’s true, also, that we’ve had two, three races where I was struggling with also some particulars on the car, but even since then it was just very difficult. It wasn’t coming as natural as it should in qualifying.

“But today, we did quite a few changes from yesterday’s sprint qualifying and sprint race, and I felt more at ease. But it’s only a small part of the job. Tomorrow we’ve got a very long race ahead, and I’m looking forward to show the progress as well in the race.”

Leclerc revealed that he faced a crossroads in how he went about trying to rediscover that feeling in the Ferrari.

One of them was to follow Hamilton’s lead. He chose the other option.

Asked to explain what the changes were that he made, Leclerc replied: “I’m not going to say, But honestly, it’s not as big as what people think.

“I had two approaches recently. There was either the one where I just changed my driving style completely and tried to reproduce what Lewis is doing, because clearly it’s working. Or, keep pushing in my direction and trying to find a way around where the car just fits my driving a little bit better.

“I went towards the second route, which was to stick with what I know worked in the past and try to find a way around with the car, and with every tool that I have available inside the car.

“That’s really what we did, and it definitely worked out.

“But I still want to stress that it’s only one qualifying session. I mean, in Austria, it wasn’t a bad one either, but I don’t think I had quite a good feeling. This one is different, and it definitely feels better, but my focus now is to stay there and keep improving.

“It’s only a first step. That doesn’t mean that from now on it’s going to change my season, but it feels good to at least have a qualifying where the feeling is good, where I know where the limit of the car is.

“I don’t think I had any moments throughout that qualifying, because I knew exactly what to expect from the car, and that is a particularly good feeling after the struggles I’ve had recently.”

Hamilton has seen Leclerc making “good improvements,” and looking ahead to Sunday’s Grand Prix, hopes that this is the start of a resurgence for his teammate.

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Hamilton led the early stages of the Sprint from pole, but could only delay Antonelli’s ascension to the lead. The Mercedes driver raced on to victory, and now has the bonus of starting the Grand Prix from pole.

Hamilton believes that Ferrari teamwork may be required.

“Am I satisfied? Of course not, I’m P3,” said Hamilton.

“But I’m happy to be up here. Both these guys did a great job today. Charles, obviously, has been making good improvements.

“We just didn’t have the pace, unfortunately, of the Mercedes. That’s been kind of a thing for a while, but we’re slowly closing the gap, and to have both of us up here is great for the team.

“Whether or not we can fully keep up with Kimi, we’ll see tomorrow, but hopefully we can maybe play with the strategy and work as a team to try to topple them.”

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