The words of the Ferrari driver
Toto Wolff and Frederic Vasseur defined the first laps of the 2026 Australian GP as the most spectacular of the last 10 years. Credit goes above all to Charles Leclerc, who with a significantly better start than the cars surrounding him took the lead of the race, responding blow for blow to the attack attempts by George Russell.
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The Mercedes pit wall then decided to take advantage of the Virtual Safety Car forced by Isack Hadjar’s technical k.o. to make the pit stop. Ferrari did not do the same and therefore Russell essentially overtook Leclerc in the pits, flying towards success in the Australian GP.
Asked about the merits or otherwise of the new 2026 rules and what the resulting race tactics are, Charles Leclerc replied as follows: “The new rules must be given some time before reaching conclusions – the words of the Ferrari driver in the press conference – I just think it will definitely change the way we approach races and overtaking. Before it was more a question of who was the bravest in braking at the last moment. Perhaps now there is a bit more strategy behind every move you make, because every time you activate the boost button, you know that you will pay the consequences later, and therefore every move must be carefully considered. Definitely a different way of approaching races.”
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