Charles Leclerc says Ferrari is unlikely to finish second in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship despite its back-to-back podium finishes in Austin and Mexico City.
Ferrari has moved back to second place – one point ahead of Mercedes and ten points ahead of Red Bull – after Leclerc’s second place behind Lando Norris in Mexico City. A week earlier, Leclerc finished third behind Max Verstappen and Norris in the United States Grand Prix, but says he is wary of the outright pace of some of Ferrari’s rivals.
“It will be very, very tough,” said Leclerc. “When I look back on the past two weekends, yes, but when I look back on these two weekends, not really.
“We just have to concentrate race by race and execute perfectly, just as we have done in the last two races. That will obviously pay off, as always. It is very difficult to always perform at this level, but that is the standard we have to aim for, and hopefully that will be enough to put us in second place among the constructors.”
While Leclerc is pessimistic about Ferrari’s hopes of beating Mercedes and Ferrari, he admits he was also surprised he was able to score podium finishes in each of the final two rounds.
“I think we didn’t expect to repeat what we did in Austin. We knew we had done the perfect execution in Austin, but we also knew that on paper we might not have had the pace that McLaren or Red Bull had. To be on the podium in that race was a surprise, but we managed to do that again and be a step higher on the podium as well.”
“As we already know, in terms of the sheer performance of the car, it has been a long time since we shifted our thoughts to 2026. [will hurt] us a little more in this last part of the season. But thanks to perfectly executed weekends we managed to achieve two podium finishes in a row, which is a very nice feeling.”
Leclerc was also under intense pressure from Verstappen at the end of Sunday’s race, and the Ferrari driver believes it is likely he would have been overtaken had he not been in the late Virtual Safety Car period.
“I was very happy to have the [VSC] which came out in the last two laps. “I think without those tires there was a better chance of Max passing than me staying in front,” he admitted. “Especially with those medium tyres, the feeling just wasn’t there from start to finish.
“I was definitely tempted by the two stops, but I don’t know. In the end I just stuck with what I was on, which was the medium tire, and tried to make it work – and it worked. It was close. We were a bit lucky, but I’m proud that we stuck with it.”
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