Charles Leclerc says Ferrari 'not at the level' of rivals in brutal verdict on 2026 struggles

Charles Leclerc has made a damning admission on Ferrari and their current standing in the sport, admitting the team's rivals have 'something we don't'.

It has been a mixed season for Ferrari so far, who, heading into the second half of the season, looked to be in contention for the drivers' championship with Lewis Hamilton.

However, their form since the sport's return at Zandvoort in August has not been anything near championship level, with Leclerc and Hamilton only scoring one podium each over the last six races and zero grand prix victories.

On top of that, there was also intra-team drama between the two drivers in the Netherlands and Italy, and that, combined with the team's lack of performance, has piled the pressure on team chief Fred Vasseur, with a little bit of help from Christian Horner, of course.

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Charles Leclerc admits Ferrari rivals 'have something we don't'

Vasseur retains Ferrari's backing, though, and Leclerc's P2 in Singapore last time out was his best result since the Belgian Grand Prix in July. However, the Monegasque driver is not getting ahead of himself.

Even though Ferrari sometimes look competitive in practice on a Friday, Leclerc believes that when the important sessions arrive, his team are missing something.

"I'm not sure we are particularly good on Fridays. I mean we are, but I believe it comes more from the engine modes that others are running," Leclerc explained, via GPBlog. "And, once we come to qualifying, they just have something that we don't.

"In FP1, maybe we are slightly more competitive in comparison to our competitors that have something more for qualifying that we don't have at the moment."

Leclerc: Ferrari car lacks raw potential of rivals

Elaborating further, Leclerc put Ferrari's strong Friday performances down to their simulator work and preparation for a race weekend, with a strong correlation between their simulator and the race track.

However, fundamentally, the car is limited, says Leclerc, as it lacks the raw performance potential of their rivals.

"It's not that if we design a very peaky car, then we can extract more out of it," Leclerc added.

"The raw potential of the car is not at the level of our main competitors, but I don't think making it more peaky will be able to extract anything more.

"I think it's just the raw performance of the car where we are a bit down at the moment."

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