Charles Leclerc: ‘The power unit is maybe our main weakness’

• Charles Leclerc finished third at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, holding off George Russell in the closing laps after a Safety Car disrupted Ferrari’s strategy.
• Leclerc acknowledged the power unit as Ferrari’s primary weakness across the opening three races, while stressing that gains in tyre management, aerodynamics, and chassis performance are all being pursued.
• The Monegasque driver said he supports the current car regulations for racing but believes qualifying procedures need adjustment to address the closing-speed dangers highlighted by Ollie Bearman’s accident.

Charles Leclerc Claims Damage-Limitation Podium as Ferrari Eyes Power Unit Gap

Third place at Suzuka was a composed, measured result from Charles Leclerc, but it came wrapped in frustration. The Safety Car, triggered midway through the race, caught Ferrari at the wrong moment and forced Leclerc to manage his second stint with less margin than he had built heading into the stops.

Speaking on the podium, Leclerc described a race that demanded constant attention. “It was a bit of a sweaty one, this one,” he said. “Obviously, the Safety Car, we got a little bit unlucky. So, from that moment onwards I knew I was a little bit on the back foot, especially compared to Kimi and Lewis.”

Leclerc refused to give up on a faster result in the opening laps, though. When asked what he was thinking after crossing the line at the end of lap one in second position, he was direct. “I mean, I was happy. Then I was obviously focusing on Oscar, but Oscar was very strong actually, especially in the first lap. In the first lap I was very surprised at how much he pulled away, and yes, after that I was just trying to be as close as possible to him, but he had a bit more pace and I thought also that free air was making a big difference. But I was just trying to wait for later on in the race, but it didn’t happen.”

The closing stages produced one of the more tactically absorbing battles of the afternoon. Russell applied sustained pressure on Leclerc, and Ferrari’s radio exchanges with their driver revealed that Mercedes were actively trying to mislead Ferrari’s pit wall about Russell’s intended deployment strategy.

Leclerc explained exactly how the duel unfolded. “I don’t know. I mean, it was quite tight at some points, and they were also being quite cheeky because I think his engineer was telling him things on the radio. My engineer was telling me what his engineer was telling on the radio, but he was doing then the opposite and that put me under quite a bit of pressure.”

He added that the pattern became clear quickly enough for him to neutralize the threat. “At one point I think they told me, ‘Oh, he’s being told to use everything in the back straight,’ or vice versa, or maybe in the main straight, and then for four laps in a row he was doing exactly the opposite of that. So, I understood it pretty quickly and I could defend. But at one point I got surprised in the last corner and yes, but it was quite a fun race.”

Despite the pressure from Russell, Leclerc kept the position, though he reiterated that the Safety Car had complicated what should have been a cleaner afternoon. “Unfortunately, a little bit unlucky for us because of the Safety Car at the wrong moment. I don’t think it would have changed significantly our race, but it made it a little bit more difficult for our second stint for sure.”

When asked to identify Ferrari’s single biggest area for improvement ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Leclerc was measured and specific. He acknowledged the power unit as the clearest gap while making clear that the work required runs across multiple departments.

“Well, I think doing a step back on those first three races, there’s a clear thing that we need to improve and this is surely the power unit,” he said. “But we obviously cannot bring anything to Miami. But there’s not only that, and in a year like this one everything is very new. I think the rate of improvements of every team is massive, so there’s a lot more than just the power unit.”

Leclerc listed the areas Ferrari are targeting in the run to Miami with precision. “There’s putting the tyres in the right window, there’s the aero, there’s the chassis, and on that we’ll work flat out in order to try and close the gap as much as possible to the Mercedes and to hopefully keep behind the McLaren, and then we’ll see. But yes, I think the power unit is maybe our main weakness at the moment, but there are many other things that can definitely influence and help us to close the gap in the meantime.”

The press conference took a more serious turn when ESPN’s Laurence Edmondson raised Ollie Bearman’s accident, which was caused by the closing-speed differential between cars running at different power deployment levels. Drivers had raised concerns about this scenario before the season began, and Suzuka produced a live example of the risk.

Leclerc acknowledged that the regulations create a genuinely new set of challenges on track, though he was careful to separate the qualifying situation from the race environment. “I think that with these cars, surely we need to race differently and there’s no doubt about that. And one of the points actually was moving or changing direction whenever you are super clipping, and that’s what creates some quite dangerous scenarios.”

On whether the regulations needed wholesale changes for race conditions, he was open about the split of opinion within the paddock. “I don’t know if I’m the only one… I don’t think I’m the only one speaking with other drivers, but it might be half-half, but I actually enjoy these cars for the racing bit.”

Leclerc drew a clear line between what needs fixing in qualifying and what may simply require adaptation from drivers in race trim. “I think for qualifying there are definitely tweaks that we need to make in order for us to push those cars to the limit and not having to think too much about the energy. For the race, I think it also comes from just adjustments on our side in racing, in defending, and taking into account that the speed differences can be more important, and on that, I mean, probably more the defending cars than the attacking car.”

He pointed to his own experiences through the season as evidence that the learning curve extends to all drivers. “I mean, on my side as well in Australia there were some pretty tricky moments with George. So yes, I think it will also get better with time, but surely it’s tricky.”

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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