Leclerc says Ferrari early pivot to 2026 ‘a no-brainer’

Charles Leclerc isn’t sugarcoating Ferrari’s struggles this season – but he also isn’t second-guessing the team’s decision to shift development early toward the all-important 2026 rulebook.

As far as he’s concerned, the Scuderia made the tough call it had to make, even if it left its drivers fighting with blunt instruments in 2025.

Speaking ahead of the Abu Dhabi finale, Leclerc looked back on a season littered with frustrations, missed opportunities and a harsh reality check from Ferrari’s rivals. But amid it all, he remains steadfast: the long game matters more.

Ferrari heads into this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi after a bruising outing in Qatar – a weekend Leclerc openly admits still stings. But he pushed back at the idea that the team will struggle just as much this time around.

“No, surely it's been accentuated by the fact that Qatar was never going to be a track where we would be strong,” he explained.

“But we didn't perform at the level where we should be anyway. We should have done better even though the characteristic of the track was not good for us.

“But for this weekend, I expect us to be back to where we should be, which is probably third team or something like that.”

Ferrari’s form slid steadily as the year wore on and competitors — notably Red Bull and Mercedes — unleashed wave after wave of upgrades. Ferrari, by contrast, pivoted sharply toward its next-generation car – designed on the basis of a new chassis and power unit – as early as April.

Playing the Long Game: Why Ferrari Shifted Early

Leclerc laid out the logic behind the team’s early switch to 2026 – a decision rooted in large part in lessons learned from the current rules cycle.

“In the beginning of '22 we actually started off quite strongly, but we were struggling with porpoising where Red Bull had a very stable platform, and they were actually quite a lot overweight,” he said.

“So as soon as they took off that weight, they were suddenly at the level where they've been since then. And then for that last year, we focused very early on next year's car, which I hope is a bet that will be a winning one.

“But for sure, it has some influence from the last two thirds of the season where we've been struggling more than others because we didn't bring that many upgrades. But in general, it's just been a generation of cars that were very, very difficult to understand.

“And what worked back at the factory, I think everybody has been surprised once or more times that when you bring it on track, it doesn't correlate exactly to what you were expecting from that part.

“That was the challenge of it. And other teams did better, especially McLaren and Red Bull.”

The subtext? Ferrari never truly unlocked this era’s machinery – so doubling down on the next one became a strategic necessity rather than a luxury.

No Regrets for 2025 Sacrifice

Asked whether he regrets the team’s early switch – knowing it doomed Ferrari’s development momentum – Leclerc didn’t hesitate.

“Not so much, because we were at a technical disadvantage from the first race,” he said. “It's not like it changed massively our approach to the season and we saw it relatively quickly that we wouldn't be fighting for the world title because McLaren was too strong. Red Bull was obviously starting to make big gains.

“There wasn't very much of a point to put all our resources in trying to take the third or the second place if everything was going super well in the constructors' at the cost of next year, whichever cost it may be. It's never something you want to do.

“I would have much preferred pushing the development the whole year to try and clinch that world title 100%. But if you are in the position that we were in at the beginning of the year, I think it was kind of a no-brainer so I don't regret it.”

Ferrari is set to finish no higher than fourth in the constructors’ standings — a painful statistic, but one Leclerc views as collateral damage in pursuit of a far larger prize.

A Season Short on Results, Not Self-Belief

While Ferrari’s machinery has made life harder than it should be, Leclerc says he’s still proud of his own campaign.

“Personally, I'm quite satisfied,” the Monegasque admitted. “I think it's been a strong season on my side. You always try to improve from one season to the other. And that's what I've tried to do this year. And I'm satisfied with the work. Then, unfortunately, the performances are not where they should be.

“And I'm not as satisfied about the result side of things and the performance we've shown, especially after last year, when we ended up strong. The expectation was another one. But yeah, we've pushed.

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“I think we reacted well as a team from the first race to the last race, trying to turn that situation around. It wasn't easy because we didn't have that many upgrades as we are focusing mostly on 2026. But yeah, I think we performed well as a team on track.

“Then what we are missing eventually is the performance on the car. And for that, I hope that next year will be better.”

For Leclerc, 2025 has been a grind – but a purposeful one. And with Ferrari pouring unprecedented energy into its next-gen design, expectations for 2026 are already sky-high.

If the calculation pays off, this difficult year may well be remembered as the necessary sacrifice before the Scuderia’s rebirth.

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