Leclerc and the fight with Hamilton: “Does Lewis know how wide these cars are?”
Charles Leclerc finished in second place in the Sprint in China ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, there was no lack of battle between the 2.
Charles Leclerc
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Leclerc via radio: “What the hell is going on?”. And then explains: “4 tenths lost on the second straight”
Leclerc is not satisfied with 6th place in the Sprint Qualifying and accumulated a 4 tenths gap only on the second straight in Shanghai.
Leclerc: “Our advantage at the start will not last long”
Charles Leclerc presented the Chinese GP like this, which will see the drivers racing as early as Saturday
Piero Ferrari: “Antonelli in red is not a forbidden dream. Leclerc is a certainty, he only lacks the title”
The Ferrari Vice President praised Kimi Antonelli (“With a bit of experience he will become a great driver”) and Charles Leclerc
Leclerc: “I had a flat battery, at the start I thought I would drop to eighth or ninth position”
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc would never have imagined finding himself in the lead at the first corner at the start in Australia
Leclerc: “The new rules must be given time, certainly in overtaking it no longer matters who brakes last”
Asked about the merits or otherwise of the new 2026 rules and what the resulting race tactics are, Leclerc replied as follows
Ferrari strategy, Leclerc: “A conscious gamble”. Hamilton reiterates: “We should have stopped”
The two Ferrari drivers had opposite attitudes after the race regarding the strategic decision not to pit after the VSC
Russell-Leclerc, back-and-forth in the cool-down room: “You weren’t slow”, “Yes, but yesterday…”
The Englishman and the Monegasque teased each other at the end of the race regarding the performance of their respective cars
Leclerc: “After what we saw in FP3, perhaps Mercedes wasn’t even at maximum power in qualifying…”
The Monegasque Ferrari driver is convinced that in the race Mercedes will have an advantage of about one second per lap
Mercedes dominates, Leclerc pessimistic: “Huge gap, there isn’t much we can do”
Charles Leclerc is quite pessimistic at the end of qualifying for the 2026 Australian GP, dominated by rivals Mercedes