Charles Leclerc Says Ferrari’s Melbourne Pace Is a “Positive Surprise”

Charles Leclerc delivered a characteristically measured but pointed assessment after Ferrari’s opening race of the new Formula 1 era, finishing third at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix behind the dominant Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. The Monegasque driver found himself at the centre of the race’s most gripping early battle, trading positions with Russell in a chaotic, energy-fuelled contest through the opening laps before ultimately settling for the final step of the podium. While the result left something to be desired, Leclerc left Albert Park with cautious optimism, and a clear-eyed view of what Ferrari needs to do to close the gap…

The race threw up immediate challenges for Leclerc, who described a start that looked composed from the outside but was anything but from the cockpit.

“It looked from outside, but I think we all had the same problem for some reason, so this is something we’ve got to review because also my battery was very, very low for some reason, probably a bit higher than them, which helped me to get in the front, but very sub-optimal anyway. I thought I would end up P8, P9, but then I started and I saw everybody had issues and I had the one with the least issues, which at the end is what counts. But there’s a lot of margin to improve those starts. It was very sub-optimal, I think, for everybody.”

He added that the timing of the lights-out only compounded an already knife-edge situation for the power units.

“We kind of expected a messy start and then I think on top of that as well we are such on a fine line before getting everything right on the PUs, and the lights off were very, very, very quick, so I think it surprised on top of that everybody and made it even more critical. So it was kind of crazy.”

Once the race was underway, Leclerc found himself in the thick of a frantic battle with Russell, a fight shaped entirely by the new hybrid deployment rules that define this generation of car. He was frank about how disorienting it felt in real time.

“It was a very, very tricky race. I mean honestly, at the start, I don’t think anybody of us knew what to expect with the fights, with the energy, and then it’s even more tricky, for the overtakes, to defend. You don’t really know when your engine, your battery is going to cut in the straight, so while defending there’s massive speed differences. So, it’s been quite challenging, but I was happy to get out of this battle in first. Unfortunately, that didn’t help us for the rest of the race, but it was a fun first part of the race. P3 is the best we could do today.”

On the audacious move he made on Russell at Turn 1, Leclerc pointed the finger, half-jokingly, at the person operating the starting lights.

“The person that is switching off the lights has been quite cheeky, because for the first start of the season with these cars, to go lights off so quickly was, I think… It took everybody by surprise. And we’re always very much on the limit with the power units, so I think that played a little bit in our hands. But it’s part of the game.”

When asked directly whether he could have challenged for the win without the Virtual Safety Car that disrupted Ferrari’s strategy, Leclerc was refreshingly honest about the pecking order.

“I don’t think so, but maybe I’m wrong. Yeah, it looked like Mercedes maybe had a bit more pace than us today, but maybe not as much as what we saw yesterday, so that’s a good thing. But I don’t think we could have won.”

That relative pace gap was a theme Leclerc returned to during the formal press conference. After a difficult qualifying session on Saturday, the race offered him a more encouraging data point, even if he was careful not to overstate it.

“Very pleased is maybe a big word, but I am positively surprised for sure. After qualifying yesterday, I think yesterday for sure we were not in our optimum window, but we are still very, very far off the Mercedes in qualifying. In the race, though, we seem to be closer. Doesn’t mean we are the fastest car, I don’t think we were, but we are a bit more reasonably behind. So yeah, lots of work to be done, and I think this championship anyway will be won by development and upgrades, and for that we need to be on it.”

On the new Overtake Mode system, which drew criticism from Lando Norris as “artificial racing”, Leclerc took a more philosophical stance, arguing that it fundamentally rewires the tactical dimension of wheel-to-wheel combat.

“I kind of agree. I just think that it will definitely change the way we go about racing and overtaking. Before, it was more about who is the bravest at braking the latest. Maybe now there’s a bit more of a strategic mind behind every move you make because every boost button activation, you know you’re going to pay the price big time after that, and so you always try and think multiple steps ahead to try and end up eventually first. But it’s a different way to go about racing for sure.”

The VSC strategy call that ultimately sealed his fate, Ferrari choosing not to pit him, was perhaps the most scrutinised decision of the race for the Scuderia. Leclerc, however, had no desire to throw his team under the bus.

“I mean, I don’t regret it. It was a wanted choice, a wanted and conscious choice. Looking from FP1 to now, there’s been at every session a car that was stopped, at least one car. We knew that there were very high chances that this was not going to be the only VSC of the race, and so we thought that it was better for us to maybe wait for another one. That’s always a gamble, of course. We didn’t know that this would happen. The reality is we’ve had other VSCs after, and one which was particularly well placed, but unfortunately for this one for us the pit entry was closed and we couldn’t take it. So, we were a little bit unlucky on that side, but it was a conscious choice again and I don’t really regret it.”

With the championship heading to Shanghai for a Sprint race weekend next, Leclerc was under no illusions about the scale of the challenge ahead in a season where getting on top of the new regulations quickly will be everything.

“I mean, many, many learnings, but as Kimi said, I think looking at Shanghai, I think it’s going to be super crucial to be straight on top of everything, which will be extremely difficult. I mean, that’s what we’ve tried to do for this weekend and even coming to the race we were not on top of everything. So, to have a Sprint race so early on in a season like this will be a huge challenge for everybody. It’s going to be very tricky.”

A podium finish to open the season, a closer-than-expected race pace, and a team still clearly chasing answers. For Ferrari and Leclerc, the 2026 campaign is well and truly underway.

Want more F1Chronicle.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best F1 news and analysis on the internet.