The Ferrari driver’s opinion
Charles Leclerc at the end of the Japanese GP qualifying was quite clear over the radio in highlighting his disappointment with the 2026 F1 cars, with which it is impossible for drivers to push to the maximum even in a qualifying lap, a discipline in which the Monegasque has always been a master.
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The Ferrari driver’s judgment on the 2026 F1 cars changes when it comes to judging the current single-seaters in race dynamics, defined as highly spectacular by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. In Japan, the first episode of an accident caused by the speed difference between a car in the ‘recharging’ phase and one instead launched at full power also occurred, and Leclerc in the press conference at the end of the GP responded like this when asked to give an overall judgment on this generation of cars that has completed the first three GPs of the season on very different tracks.
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“With these cars we have to race in a different way, there are no doubts about that – Leclerc’s words – and certainly the issue of superclipping is something that must be taken into consideration, more by the defending car than the attacking one. I learned it the hard way in Australia, there were several let’s say complicated situations in the duel with Russell. Whether we have to change everything for the race I don’t know, I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks this way, I talk to all the drivers and I would say we are pretty much split down the middle. As for the race, I like these cars, I think for qualifying there are certainly changes we need to make to be able to push these cars to the limit and not have to think too much about energy.”
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