‘We want to win races’ – Leclerc assesses how much potential Ferrari car has amid Mercedes battle

Charles Leclerc has reflected on the likelihood of Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes in this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, with the Monegasque insisting the team are working "extremely hard" on upgrades with the aim to win races in 2026.

The Scuderia have enjoyed an encouraging start to the season as they took a significant step forward under the new regulations, securing two podium finishes with Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the first races at Albert Park and Shanghai.

Nevertheless, they are keen to close the gap to Mercedes, especially over one lap where Ferrari are down on the Silver Arrows’ pace and have been unable to claim a front row start in Qualifying so far.

Asked just how close Ferrari are to Mercedes, Leclerc admitted: “I don’t think it’s as close as what people think. Obviously seeing the first few races, we see lots of fighting between the cars, which is actually quite nice, but as soon as you’re a little bit suboptimal with these cars, you lose a lot of lap time.

“Our only chance to stay with them is to annoy them in the first few laps, but as soon as they get free air they’ve shown their real pace in the last race. I think there’s still these four or five-tenths that we’ve seen so far in the first two races so it’s still a significant advantage. That doesn’t discourage me.”

Ferrari have demonstrated that they can challenge the frontrunners during Grands Prix as both Leclerc and Hamilton have surged into the lead before defending against George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Some thrilling battles have ensued as a result, but Leclerc explained that he is eager for Ferrari to improve and make the most of expected developments so that they can stay in the fight for the Championship.

“For now, we are in an okay-ish place but of course we’re not here to only do podiums,” he added. “We want to win races, which at the moment seems very difficult because Mercedes are at a very high level. We are working very hard, especially the people back at the factory – they are working extremely hard to bring upgrades as soon as possible.

“I know there is quite a bit coming up soon but whether this is going to make the difference or not, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure the others are not on vacation either so it’s going to be tough.”

After he missed out on a podium to Hamilton at the Chinese Grand Prix, settling instead for P4 after an entertaining contest, Leclerc appeared keen to manage expectations surrounding his chances in Japan.

He said: “I think after the first free practice, we’ll already have an idea of where we stand compared to Mercedes. I don't see any characteristics that will drastically change what we’ve seen in the first two races... but let’s wait and see.

“There are still some very long back straights where we know Mercedes are going to be extremely strong but it’s also a very twisty track in the first two sectors, so hopefully we can have a big enough advantage to be faster on the overall lap. At the moment it looks unlikely with the picture we’ve made in the first two races.”