Leclerc hints at potential dominant form from Mercedes

Charles Leclerc admitted that Mercedes appear to hold an early advantage after the first day of running at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, despite Ferrari showing promising pace in the opening practice session.

Leclerc topped FP1 at Albert Park, but he slipped to fifth in the second session as teams began to reveal more of their true performance. Speaking after FP2, the Ferrari driver said the competitive picture had shifted once fuel loads and run plans became more representative.

“FP1 looked positive, but then FP2 I think the teams are showing little by little a bit more,” he said. “Unfortunately, we seem to be on the back foot, especially compared to Mercedes, who seem to be very, very strong.”

Leclerc suggested that Mercedes had not yet shown their full potential on low fuel, but their long‑run pace stood out as particularly concerning for Ferrari.

“I don’t think they showed everything in low fuel, but on high fuel it was very impressive,” he explained. “That’s a bit of a… It’s the first time probably that we see how much [of a gap] there is to them, and it’s a bit more than I would have liked. It’s the way it is.”

Despite that assessment, Leclerc remained encouraged by Ferrari’s overall start to the weekend and emphasised that the team still has room to optimise the SF‑26.

“On the other side, it’s been quite a positive start to the weekend, and we’ll keep working very hard in order to try and maximise everything for tomorrow,” he said.

The Monegasque also revealed that a setup experiment in FP2 contributed to his drop in competitiveness, describing the car as difficult to handle after a more aggressive direction was tested.

“There are quite a few priorities and things that… I just need to put the car back to where it should be,” he noted. “I tried something in FP2 and it felt really, really strange and quite bad.

“It’s okay. We are still in the learning process of this car. I think we had very good testing, so we know more or less where to put it. For FP2 I went a bit too aggressive in one direction and it didn’t pay off, but it was a good test.”

Looking ahead to qualifying and the race, Leclerc expects the field to be closely matched over one lap, but he believes Mercedes may hold a more significant advantage in race trim.

“Then for the rest of the weekend, it’s all about putting everything together,” he said. “In Qualifying I have the feeling that it can be quite close, in the race it seems that Mercedes has quite a bit of performance coming, but we’ll see.”

When asked how confident he felt about challenging at the front should Ferrari unlock more performance, Leclerc remained cautious.

“I wouldn’t say confident, because I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know much margin Mercedes still has, so it’s a bit early to say. But I would say they are a bit more in front than what I would have wanted for now.”

Even so, Leclerc stressed that the 2026 season will be defined by development, and that the opening race is only the beginning of a long campaign.

“We’ll work hard during the night,” he said. “Again, I think this year is going to be about development throughout the year, so wherever we start on Sunday and wherever we finish on Sunday, it’s only a starting point, we’ll have to build on that to try and catch up. If we win on Sunday, then amazing!”