Leclerc’s honest admission as Lewis Hamilton lands fresh blow at Austrian GP

Charles Leclerc rejected the theory presented to him that he had taken a step closer to Lewis Hamilton at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Leclerc said that such thinking was a “long shot” after an “incredibly difficult” Austrian GP for Leclerc, who managed P8 only. Both Ferraris struggled with tyre management, Hamilton restricted to fifth. Leclerc admitted that he probably does not “have a clear picture of what I want from this car.”

Charles Leclerc feels he has not gained on Lewis Hamilton

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After Hamilton’s victory in Barcelona, Ferrari were a particularly intriguing prospect at the Austrian GP as Leclerc prepared to launch from the front row. Hamilton was third.

However, the race fell away from Ferrari. With tyre management a clear issue in the scorching temperatures, Hamilton attempted another three-stopper. He managed P5 only.

Leclerc, carrying some front wing damage, had sunk all the way down to eighth by the time he made a third and final stop of the afternoon. P8 is where he finished.

Reflecting on the race, Leclerc gave a glum assessment of where he is at with the Ferrari SF-26, amid a tough run of form.

Leclerc has not been on the podium since Suzuka.

“It was just an incredibly difficult race,” he told PlanetF1.com and others in Austria.

“Very, very low grip overall. Just struggled to have the car, and the tyres especially, in the right window. Especially the rears, just missing a lot of rear grip.

“Still a lot of work to be done.

“I think I’ve been working very hard in the past weeks, because there was always one reason or another that made me struggle on the Sunday, or on the Saturday, but at the moment there’s always a reason why there’s a struggle.

“That probably means that I don’t really have a clear picture of what I want from this car. I’ve got to find that.”

Asked if his Austria struggles were just a case of oversteer and understeer, or whether there was more to it, Leclerc replied: “There’s a lot down to that.

“Also, car characteristics swings a lot of performance this year as well, because this weekend we see we’ve been a lot more on the back foot. Especially in the race, because in quali we weren’t too bad.

“But we’ve been less competitive as a whole, so a bit of everything, but probably car balance.”

Leclerc may have finished the race almost 20 seconds behind Hamilton, but having outqualified his teammate, levelling the F1 2026 qualifying head-to-head in the process, Leclerc was asked whether he agrees with the assessment that he is now closer to Hamilton.

Hamilton reeled off back-to-back P2s in Montreal and Monaco before his Barcelona win. Leclerc last crossed the line ahead of Hamilton in Miami.

“That’s a long shot, I think,” Leclerc responded to that theory.

“I’ve struggled quite a lot today. Lewis got a good start, and then got track position, which maybe helped a little bit at the beginning, but even when we were in free air, I think he had a bit more pace than I did.”

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After Ferrari introduced a major upgrade package for the SF-26 in Barcelona, further revisions were rolled out for Austria.

Leclerc was asked whether this tripped Ferrari up in Austria, but could be a case of one step back, two forwards once Ferrari optimise its latest package.

“I don’t think so, because the upgrades we brought were quite straightforward, and we knew what to do with this,” Leclerc replied.

“It’s not the kind of upgrades where you’ve got to change the philosophy of the way you set up the car. So, I don’t think so.”

Leclerc and Ferrari will look to rebound at next weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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