Charles Leclerc’s F1 season hasn’t gone to plan, and he’s currently on track to equal his worst championship finish since 2021.
Leclerc leads Ferrari in the standings, but fifth place isn’t what he’s aiming for. He wants to be fighting for wins. And so far this season, Ferrari haven’t managed one – they’re the only team in the top four yet to take a victory. With new regulations coming in 2026, there’s still plenty of work ahead.
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Leclerc has pushed for an ‘extreme’ approach at Ferrari as he tries to address some ongoing balance issues.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has said he wants to go ‘nose-to-nose’ with Leclerc but hasn’t been able to match him yet, despite Leclerc dealing with his own challenges.
Charles Leclerc sticks to his own setup choices despite Fred Vasseur’s sunday focus advice
Ferrari’s struggles in high-speed corners this year have been linked to a less-than-ideal power steering setup, adding another layer to the team’s list of concerns.
Even Lewis Hamilton wasn’t immune, dealing with an engine issue at Silverstone that left him down on power. From the outside, it seems there are issues popping up all over the place at Maranello.
But team principal Fred Vasseur has noted a positive change in Leclerc’s approach. After previously favouring qualifying setups, Leclerc is now making decisions that better suit race conditions.
“He did a real step forward in terms of race pace, perhaps also with the set-up of the car, and it’s all going into the direction to be more difficult for the Quali,” he told F1.com.
“But I remember perfectly that two years ago we were telling him, ‘Charles, we are scoring points on Sunday. Let’s be more focused on Sunday. Let’s be more focused on the set-up for Sunday,’ because it’s Sunday that we are scoring points.”
Charles Leclerc’s response to Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari focus revealed
Charles Leclerc’s Formula 1 season hasn’t gone quite as planned, and he’s currently on course to match his worst championship finish since 2021.
Ferrari’s car went backwards over the winter, after a dramatic and major overhaul, which looks a touch ambitious when looking back.
Leclerc is the lead Scuderia in the drivers’ championship, but fifth place isn’t where he wants to be. He wants to win.
Which his team have failed to do this season, meaning that they are the only team in the top four yet to climb onto the top step of the rostrum. There’s plenty of work to do ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations.
Leclerc has sought an ‘extreme’ solution at Ferrari to fix some balance woes that he has been dealing with for a while.
Teammate Lewis Hamilton wants to go ‘nose to nose’ with Leclerc, but hasn’t been able to match him despite the Monegasque driver’s own struggles.
Charles Leclerc has ignored Fred Vasseur’s advice in order to set up his Ferrari car for Sunday
“He did a real step forward in terms of race pace, perhaps also with the set-up of the car, and it’s all going into the direction to be more difficult for Quali,” Vasseur told F1.com.“But I remember perfectly that two years ago we were telling him: ‘Charles, we are scoring points on Sunday.’“Let’s be more focused on Sunday. Let’s be more focused on set-up on Sunday because it is Sunday that we are scoring points.”
Ted Kravitz says Charles Leclerc is “very unhappy”
The former Sauber man knows what it takes to run an F1 team and will no doubt already know where changes need making.But Leclerc isn’t helping himself by running away from listening too much.In fact, Ted Kravitz recently revealed that Fred Vasseur was still under pressure at Ferrari after hearing about how unhappy Charles Leclerc was.
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