Charles Leclerc has said Ferrari's problem in 2026 has been the "raw performance" of the SF-26 rather than set-up. The Monegasque's comments come as the Scuderia look set to introduce one last major upgrade at the United States Grand Prix this weekend.
A common trend in 2026 has seen Ferrari look competitive in practice but then fall back behind their rivals once Qualifying gets underway. Leclerc believes rivals simply have "something we don't" when it's time to set the grid for Sunday's race.
"I'm not sure we are particularly good on Fridays," he told media, including GPblog. "I mean we are, but I believe it comes more from the engine modes that others are running, and once we come to qualifying, they just have something that we don't."
"In FP1, maybe we are slightly more competitive in comparison to our competitors that have something more for qualifying that we don't have at the moment."
Leclerc: Raw performance letting Ferrari down
Photo: Race Pictures
However, Leclerc has praised Ferrari's ability to arrive to a race weekend already with a good balance, citing strong simulator work and good correlation at Maranello. He said: "One of our strengths as a team is straight from the get-go having a car with a good balance.”
"I think our car is quite peaky, but I think we do a very good preparation before the weekend on the simulator. The correlation has been quite strong recently, which helps us to do the work on the simulator back at home, and then arrive at the track and have a strong car straight away and a car I feel comfortable with.”
Despite describing the SF-26 as "peaky," meaning it has a narrow operating window in which maximum performance can be extracted, Leclerc does not necessarily believe changing the car's characteristics will provide an uptick in form - with the Ferrari driver more concerned with "raw performance."
"It's not that if we design a very peaky car, then we can extract more out of it," Leclerc said. "The raw potential of the car is not at the level of our main competitors, but I don't think making it more peaky will be able to extract anything more. I think it's just the raw performance of the car where we are a bit down at the moment."
Opting for a smaller turbo in comparison to their rivals, Ferrari have indeed struggled for straight-line speed throughout the season, but have looked strong in the corners.
While this advantage has dwindled as the season reaches its conclusion, the Scuderia will hope their final upgrade - reportedly set to target the floor, sidepods, bodywork, and front wing - can help close their deficit to Mercedes, who they currently trail in the Constructors' standings by 134 points.