Charles Leclerc demands Ferrari F1 upgrades in Red Bull battle

Charles Leclerc has urged Ferrari to bring F1 upgrades “as soon as possible” in the team’s battle with Red Bull.

Ferrari trailed Red Bull in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

Charles Leclerc wants more despite Ferrari progress

Ferrari has endured the most up-and-down season of any of the established top teams, with qualifying in Sepang among the high points.

With Lewis Hamilton in second place and Leclerc in fourth, the Monegasque, benefiting from a grid penalty for Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, Ferrari is set for a strong race.

However, it has not always been the case this year that Ferrari has been able to translate a positive qualifying performance into the race, with this evidenced last time out as Leclerc tumbled down the order after starting on the front row in Baku.

By comparison, Red Bull has steadily built, with Max Verstappen establishing himself as a podium regular once again.

Assessing the improvements of Red Bull, with Verstappen set to start from pole on Sunday, Leclerc said: “Now it’s a few weekends that they are, I would say, more competitive. It looks like they are doing something well for sure.

“The whole weekend they’ve been very strong, and it’s both cars being very strong.

“So we’ve got to work, we know that, and we’ve got to bring upgrades as soon as possible to not lose too much in the fight with them.

“But it’s also true that this weekend, particularly if you look at Lewis’ lap in Q3, we are not so far.”

How qualifying unfolded at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia

Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Verstappen dominates as Hamilton makes front row

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying records between teammates

The pecking order has shifted across the current weekend, with Russell, Kimi Antonelli, and Verstappen all topping a practice session each.

But when qualifying began, Verstappen emerged as the clear benchmark, with Ferrari the closest challenger as Mercedes faded.

Despite this, Leclerc refused to rule Mercedes out of contention for Sunday’s race.

“It’s been a bit of a strange weekend,” he said I think for Mercedes, they’ve been extremely strong in some laps and struggling in some others.

“So, if they manage to repeat consistently the extremely strong lap, I think it’s going to be difficult to beat them tomorrow.

“But if there’s an opportunity for us to capitalise on them being a little bit more inconsistent this weekend, we need to take that opportunity.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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