Leclerc explains why Formula 1's new-generation cars forced him to rethink his driving style

Charles Leclerc says the biggest challenge he has faced in 2026 has not been Ferrari's SF-26 itself, but adapting his naturally aggressive driving style to Formula One's new generation of power unit regulations.

Fresh from his victory at the British Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver was asked ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix to explain what had been causing his struggles earlier in the season and whether the issues were specific to Ferrari or a consequence of the sport's latest technical regulations.

Leclerc made it clear that he does not believe Ferrari's car is the root of the problem: "No, I don't think it's with the Ferrari itself. I think it's more with this generation of cars."

The Monegasque explained that his instinctively aggressive approach has been one of his greatest strengths throughout his career, but the characteristics of Formula One's new power units have forced him to become more measured behind the wheel.

"I've got quite an aggressive driving style in general. I think that has been a strength during my career, but with these cars, sometimes you've got to be careful not to go to the other side because then the dip is quite big and you can start losing quite a lot of performance."

According to Leclerc, the behaviour of the new power units places a much greater emphasis on precision and consistency, particularly when applying the throttle on corner exit.

"PU-wise, if you are not efficient, if you don't go on the throttle in a clean way, if you just don't do things consistently, always the same, then it starts becoming a bit tricky because you get into very different issues where your speed into the next corner is different."

He explained that those small inconsistencies can quickly snowball into larger performance losses over the course of a lap.

"That changes your braking point, and you are always readapting your references. It makes it very, very difficult."

Leclerc believes this was one of the key factors behind his inconsistent form earlier in the season, prompting him to rethink his approach at Silverstone.

"So, I think there was a little bit of that. Then there were just a few things that I changed at Silverstone to try and fit this generation of cars and to try and help my driving with it."

The adjustments immediately paid dividends, helping him feel significantly more comfortable in the Ferrari and ultimately leading to victory at Silverstone. However, despite the breakthrough, Leclerc insisted he is not yet ready to conclude that all of his problems have been solved.

"That made it quite a lot better. But as I said at Silverstone, this is something I want to prove on multiple racetracks."

While delighted to have returned to winning ways, the Ferrari driver stressed that a single strong weekend is not enough to prove he has permanently unlocked the potential of the SF-26.

"It's not only with one race win—and I'm very happy with the race win—but it's not only with one race win that now everything is fine and I'm relaxed."

Instead, Leclerc believes maintaining the same level of confidence across a variety of circuits will be the real measure of whether he has truly adapted to Formula One's latest generation of cars.

"There's a lot of work in order to try and keep that form and keep that feeling, most of all, because if the feeling is there, as I was saying earlier, it has always been the case that when I feel good with a car, normally the lap times and the performance come."

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, the eight-time Grand Prix winner says his priority is now to preserve that confidence regardless of circuit characteristics.

"So I'll just try and work as hard as possible to try and keep that feeling for the rest of the season and on different track layouts."