Charles Leclerc enters F1’s upcoming big regulation overhaul with a mix of ambition and restraint, but is still firmly a believer in Ferrari.
After a bruising 2025 season that offered hard lessons rather than trophies, the Scuderia driver is hopeful that the sport’s sweeping 2026 regulations will give the Scuderia a chance to reset – but he’s also refusing to make bold predictions after being wrong-footed once before.
Ferrari arrived in 2025 expecting to fight at the front after closing 2024 as one of the grid’s strongest forces. Instead, the campaign unfolded in ways that left both the team and Leclerc far from the title fight.
A Year That Tested Patience
Reflecting on the year in an interview with RACER, Leclerc didn’t hide how jarring the downturn felt.
“It's not been easy for sure, because you start the year with expectations,” he said. “We ended up the second half of the season as the one that had more points. So, you look forward to the next year, hoping to continue on that momentum.
"But McLaren did an incredible job in that winter break and came back with a big advantage on others, a lot bigger than what we had expected.
“Then Red Bull kind of stepped up to their level, and Mercedes and ourselves are kind of a little bit inconsistent and struggling to find our way with this generation of cars, at least as well as McLaren and Red Bull.
“So, it's been a tough season, but I think my objective in every season I go into is trying to maximize whatever I have.
“That doesn't mean I'm satisfied with the season, in a way that fighting for fourth, fifth or sixth is not something that I particularly enjoy. But looking back, I think it's been a very strong season on my side.
“And for that, I need to be happy about it – still being extremely critical with myself and always trying to find ways to improve, but it's been a strong season on my side.”
Ferrari’s inconsistency meant Leclerc often found himself fighting for mere points rather than podiums – a frustrating contrast to the momentum of late 2024. But even amid that struggle, he points to signs of personal growth rather than disappointment.
Constant Refinement, Not Reinvention
Ferrari chairman John Elkann’s pointed comments after the São Paulo Grand Prix – urging his drivers to “talk less” following a double DNF – might have stung a less composed driver. But Leclerc responded with professionalism, turning the focus back to progress.
He explained how experience has shaped him over time.
“I remember in 2019, I arrived in the team and there were bigger areas of weaknesses. One was tyre management, for example, and I put a lot of effort into it,” he explained.
“That's where experience helps you, just because you know a lot more situations, you know how to adapt to them much better. And as a driver, I felt a lot more complete.
“So now it's not that I wouldn't say there's something huge that I still need to improve; it's fine-tuning here and there, trying to improve the way I work with my engineer, the way you're going to approach a slightly lower-grip corner. But these are just fine details and it's a continuous improvement, really.
“It's not that something is not going well, so you are changing it. You're just trying to push more in the right direction, because nobody is resting in this paddock and everybody is pushing flat out to become better.”
The underlying message: he believes in his own trajectory – and he believes he’s near the complete package he needs to be.
Fueling Ambition, Not Arrogance
Leclerc was also asked whether he feels a championship hinges primarily on Ferrari giving him the right machinery. His response was careful but confident.
“It would be a very arrogant thing for me to say [I just need the car to win a title] and I'm not this kind of person,” he said. “But I feel definitely that I'm doing a really, really good job, and surely with a better car, it would give me better chances in order to fight up there.
“At the moment, we don't have that as a team and that is frustrating, but also motivating in one way to turn that situation around that's been there for many years. And that's where I draw my motivation from.
“But if the question is ‘Do I feel capable of winning a world championship?’ I do. And I work towards that every single day and I hope that day will come as soon as possible.”
It’s not the proclamation of a man making excuses. It’s the voice of a driver who believes his best work is still ahead.
2026: Promise Wrapped in Uncertainty
The upcoming regulation overhaul — new engines, new aero philosophy, and a near-clean slate – gives Ferrari a genuine chance to change its competitive fate. Yet Leclerc is careful not to get carried away by early or excessive optimism.
“How do I feel about next year? It's a very difficult one because we are all starting from scratch. It's a very big secret how everybody is going next year… So it's very difficult to have a clear picture on where is everyone at for next year,” he said.
“One thing for sure is that I feel we're working well. But to tell you a feeling is a very tricky thing to do because even from last year to this year, you kind of have a feeling, you think it's going in the right direction but then you come into a year where the regulations didn't really change that much and McLaren managed to find a huge amount of performance and surprised everybody.
“Next year we are speaking about a change that probably never really happened, at least recently, in Formula 1 history. There's the engine, there's the whole philosophy of the way the car works. Everything around that is going to change.
“So, that gives a lot of opportunities to the team to find solutions. If one of the teams puts everything together, it can create a massive difference. I hope that team is Ferrari.”
It’s an outlook shaped by realism, but powered by genuine belief — the kind Ferrari needs if it hopes to capitalize on one of the biggest resets in modern F1 history.
As the sport prepares to turn the page, Leclerc won’t shout about Ferrari’s chances. But his determination, and his faith in what’s possible, speak loudly enough.
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