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Charles Leclerc believes the battle for supremacy in Formula 1 this season is less about who can out-upgrade their rivals and more about who can best optimise what they already have — a distinction the Ferrari driver feels is being systematically underestimated.
The Monegasque pointed to Red Bull as the clearest illustration of his argument. Despite looking formidable during pre-season testing, the Milton Keynes outfit struggled across the opening rounds of the campaign — a dip in form that Leclerc attributes not to a lack of development, but to the inherent complexity of extracting consistent performance from these new-generation cars.
"I think a lot about these cars is optimising," the eight-time grand prix winner told media, including RacingNews365. "Taking a step back on the performance of each team, I don't fully believe that it's all down to the upgrades that each team has brought, the step that we've seen."
His view carries weight in the context of what unfolded in Miami. Ferrari arrived in Florida having delivered 11 updates to the SF-26 — more than any other team on the grid — yet the performance gain appeared smaller than those enjoyed by McLaren and Red Bull. On the surface, it looked like a misfire. Leclerc rejected that reading entirely.
"If we look at Red Bull, I think Red Bull was very strong during the winter test, and then there was these first three races, where as soon as you are not exactly optimised, you lose a lot of performance — and I feel like in Miami they did a massive step on that, on top of the upgrades they brought," he explained. "So I think it's very difficult to have a good picture of how much the upgrades are doing."
That nuanced assessment aligns with what Red Bull themselves acknowledged after Miami — team principal Laurent Mekies detailed the deep five-week analysis that helped unlock the RB car's operating window ahead of the race, underlining that the bounce-back was as much about understanding as it was about hardware.
Ferrari currently sits second in the constructors' standings, but the gap to Mercedes at the top is 70 points — a significant deficit at this stage of the season. McLaren, occupying third, trail the Scuderia by just 16 points, keeping the pressure squarely on the team from Maranello from both directions. As McLaren themselves ramp up their development offensive with a seven-area MCL40 upgrade for Canada, the pace of the development war shows no sign of slowing.
Leclerc expects the competitive order to remain fluid throughout the season, with factory work playing an increasingly decisive role.
"One thing, for sure, is that every week we spend at the factory working on the new cars, there are big gains, and much bigger than in the past," he said. "So it's going to be super important to be on top of upgrades."
Perhaps most revealing was Leclerc's candid acknowledgement that total optimisation is simply not achievable — and that the human element will always introduce a degree of unpredictability into any performance assessment.
"I just think that we are still in a moment of the season where teams are just figuring out how to maximise the whole system, which is very, very complex — and I think you will never arrive at 100 per cent optimisation with this kind of car, because there's also the driving, which is variable, and will always be, so that will be tricky."
It is a rare moment of genuine technical candour from a driver who is clearly thinking deeply about what this new era of Formula 1 demands. For Ferrari, the challenge is not simply to bring more parts to the track — it is to ensure the whole package, car, driver, and setup, is working in concert. In Leclerc's view, that is where championships will be decided in 2026.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.