What can Ferrari do in the race?
The Mercedes superiority seems evident in this first taste of the 2026 world championship, but Ferrari managed to give them a hard time at the start of the Melbourne race and the Shanghai Sprint.
Of course, the battles made of overtakes and counter-overtakes then led to the same result, namely George Russell’s victory, but for Leclerc and Hamilton it is still something that can give a glimmer of optimism in view of the rest of the world championship.
Tomorrow the Ferrari drivers will start from the second row and could manage to find themselves in the fight for the lead, thanks to the super starts of the SF-26 and the energy management of the initial laps.
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Leclerc smiles about the start
To the microphones of Canal+, Charles Leclerc smiled while commenting on the goodness of Ferrari’s start: “Starting fourth, third, second or first doesn’t change much, because the first laps are quite chaotic. There is a bit more enthusiasm compared to last year when we think about the race, because we know we can do something. And beyond that, we have a lot of fun fighting like this with the others.”
Leclerc is however aware of Mercedes‘ strength: “During the Sprint they were 3-4 tenths per lap ahead and it’s a significant gap. But during the battles we have quite good energy management which I hope can give us an advantage and allow us to stay glued to them for the whole race.”
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