Leclerc claims Ferrari exceeded his expectations at Silverstone and Spa
Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari has taken a significant step forward after securing second place in the Belgian Grand Prix, although the Monegasque insists there is still more performance to unlock from the SF-26.
Starting fourth on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps, Leclerc produced an impressive drive to finish runner-up behind Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli, crossing the line just over two seconds behind the championship leader at a circuit where Ferrari had expected to struggle.
Reflecting on the weekend, Leclerc admitted the result exceeded Ferrari's expectations.
"Again, on Thursday, I think we kind of expected to be very far back, maybe to the extent of four or five tenths," he said. "In qualifying, that was true, but in the race we were a bit closer than we thought."
Despite believing Spa and Silverstone were not naturally suited to Ferrari's package, Leclerc was pleased with what the team had achieved across the two events.
"So, it's been positive. I think on two tracks which, on paper, were quite bad for us, we won and we finished second, with a little bit of luck, but still, I think it was a good effort from the team. On two tracks that didn't fit our car particularly well, we've scored good points."
While Ferrari's recent form has raised hopes that it can challenge consistently at the front, Leclerc stopped short of claiming the team's problems have been solved.
"I'm confident in saying that I made a step forward," he explained. "Whether I'm at the level where I want to perform, not yet."
"There are still things in the car that I need to drive around. I cannot drive completely naturally, and that is slowing me down in some parts of the race. So, there are still things that I've got to work on in order to be better. But surely it was a step forward, and for that I'm happy."
Leclerc also reiterated that he will continue taking the season one race at a time, highlighting how sensitive the current generation of Formula One cars is to small changes.
"I'll continue with the one-race-at-a-time approach because, with these cars, it's very difficult to be confident that if one race weekend goes well, the other one will, because it relies on such small details."
"With what you do with your driving, it's never a given that you get the same deployment from one lap to the other, and that's maybe the frustrating bit about these cars."
During the race, Leclerc was also involved in a close battle with Oscar Piastri at Turn 5 on lap eight, an incident that was later investigated by the FIA before the stewards decided to take no further action.
Asked about the contact, Leclerc smiled before replying: "Well, I would prefer to speak about lap one, to be honest, but lap eight was too close. Luckily, it didn't have any consequences for either my race or his race, so that's good."
Looking ahead to next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, Leclerc cautioned against expecting Ferrari to continue its recent run of form simply because the characteristics of the Hungaroring appear favourable on paper.
"We could be, but we could also not be, and we'll never know until we go there," he said when asked whether Ferrari could be particularly competitive in Budapest.
"I think it's very difficult to predict the level of performance of every team. I recall very well what the overall feeling was before Monaco, and we arrived in Monaco and were underperforming compared to what everybody thought we would."
Instead, Leclerc believes Ferrari's focus should remain on extracting the maximum from its package rather than making predictions.
"I think we need to be cautious. We just need to do our homework, just like we do at every different track."
"I think what we did particularly well over these last two weekends was to really make sure that we maximised our package, and that's the mentality we should keep for Budapest, without thinking about expectations."
