Ferrari 'not focused on performance whatsoever' yet in Barcelona - Leclerc

Ferrari will start trying to understand the performance of its 2026 car towards the latter stages of Formula 1’s Barcelona shakedown, Charles Leclerc says.

Leclerc had his first run of the week on Tuesday morning, as one of just two teams out on track due to rain arriving as the day progressed. Red Bull was the only other team appearing on the second day – with teams able to run on any three of the five days this week – and Leclerc says his track time later in the week is likely to see the car pushed already.

“It was nice to be back in the car – back in a very, very all-new car and very different to what we've been driving so far,” Leclerc said.

“For now it's all about trying to understand if everything is working properly, which it kind of did. It's not the best conditions because it's been a little rainy this morning, but actually we did our program anyway, because again, we're not focused on performance whatsoever.

“We're more about looking at all the systems that are new on this car and see if everything works as it should. And it did, so that's a positive. And then we'll go through slowly our program.

“Obviously being the first morning, we've gone through the very first preliminary check of the car, which everything went properly. And little by little, we'll just go through our checklist of the first systems to then eventually what matters most, which is performance. But this will come probably a bit later on in those three days and trying to understand first how everything behaves and then see how it goes.”

Leclerc says the potential for the 2026 regulations to mix up the order is something he has been looking forward to, as Ferrari seeks its first drivers’ championship since 2007.

“I'm very excited to see what the others have in store,” he said.“And when we start pushing a bit more, to see where we are compared to the others. I think this year is a big opportunity for every team to do something different and to maybe gain a bigger advantage than what we've seen in the last few years.

“I hope we are the team that will manage to make the difference. But wherever we start, we will push at the maximum to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. It's been quite a few years, so I hope that this one is ours.”