2026-02-01 12:30:03
Charles Leclerc is impressed with Ferrari’s “super interesting” 2026 car.
The Monagasque previously expressed concern about F1’s new generation of cars but appears to have changed his view after testing the Prancing Horse’s latest challenger in Barcelona this week.
Leclerc said: “It’s super interesting. It’s the first day for me in the car in normal conditions, so a lot to learn, a lot to discover and it’s a very different car to what we’ve been driving since I arrived in Formula 1. I take that as a challenge and I actually quite like that everything is new and then there might be an opportunity for us drivers to think outside the box.
“I definitely feel more and more comfortable. It remains an F1 car as well in a way, it’s not like I was completely lost when I got back into the car and I was at ease quite quickly. With these new systems and obviously with 50 per cent of the power that comes from the electrical engine, it makes it quite a bit more challenging to manage that, so the learning curve is quite steep. But it’s very interesting.”
Ferrari have racked up solid mileage at the Circuit de Catalunya, although Leclerc stressed that it is far too early to make any conclusions about the car’s performance.
The eight-time Grand Prix winner said: “In terms of performance, I have no idea where we are and it’s just a huge question mark. There’s nothing that tells me, ‘Okay, we are more or less here or here.’
“But in terms of checklists of the things we wanted to go through, we kind of are on time with our programme, so that’s good.
“The checklist is massive, still, so there are still many, many things that we want to test and try differently, whether it’s some set-up on the car, some different things or some approaches that we have with this new system.”
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