Charles Leclerc Highlights ‘main talking point’ at Sepang While Assessing Ferrari’s Performance

Charles Leclerc identifies tyre degradation as key Sepang challenge

Charles Leclerc has identified tyre degradation as the “main talking point” at Sepang after Ferrari enjoyed a strong opening day of running at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Leclerc finished fourth in FP1 before topping the timesheets in FP2, while Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton recorded sixth and fifth-place finishes in the two sessions.

Despite Ferrari’s headline results, Leclerc does not believe the Scuderia currently has the strongest overall package. The Monegasque driver highlighted Red Bull’s pace and suggested Mercedes remains difficult to assess after George Russell and Kimi Antonelli ended FP2 seventh and eighth respectively.

“I mean it’s been a very, very difficult day overall,” said Leclerc. “The track conditions were very tricky – the track was quite dirty actually and very slippery – so I think things will change and evolve a lot from today to tomorrow.

“We’ve got to be on the good side of things, anticipating that in the best possible way, but today hasn’t been a bad day. I felt quite good with the car, but I still feel like the Red Bull, for example, is standing out this weekend so far.

“Isack [Hadjar], I think, did some mistakes in the last part of the lap, and Max didn’t do the lap on the soft tyres, so I don’t think we are the most competitive, and also the Mercedes is a bit difficult to understand.”

Red Bull and Mercedes remain major competitive threats

Mercedes has led the competitive order so far in 2026 and brought a significant upgrade package to the Sepang International Circuit for this weekend. However, the team’s true performance remains uncertain because neither Russell nor Antonelli managed to complete a clean soft-tyre lap during FP2.

Leclerc believes Mercedes will quickly resolve its Friday difficulties and warned Ferrari not to underestimate the Silver Arrows.

“They don’t often get it wrong, so I wouldn’t underestimate them,” he said. “I mean, I’m sure that once they all put everything together, they’ll be very strong.

“They’ve been the favourite since the beginning, since the first race, and normally when they put something on the car it works very well. So yeah, let’s see how it goes but the best thing we can do anyway is to focus on ourselves and maximise what we have.”

Red Bull’s performance is also not yet fully defined. Leclerc noted that Isack [Hadjar] made mistakes during the final part of his lap, while Max did not complete a soft-tyre run, leaving Ferrari without a definitive comparison against the Red Bull package.

Extreme conditions create tyre-management test

Hot weather, the possibility of rain and low grip are adding to the technical demands facing the drivers at Sepang. Tyre degradation emerged as an immediate concern during FP1, with Leclerc describing it as “insane” over the radio.

With Sunday’s Grand Prix approaching, Leclerc expects tyre management to have a decisive influence on the race. He said small differences in car performance through individual corners could create a significant difference in degradation over a race stint.

“The degradation is going to be the main talking point of the weekend, so yeah, that will make the race very interesting and we need to be on top of that,” he assessed. “Today, we’ve seen a lot of degradation. I think we have normally quite a good race car but there’s a lot work to be done and a small difference in some corners can make a huge difference in degradation.

“But we had a good day today. I think we did a lot of work, we learned a lot of things, but there is still plenty to work on before Sunday.”

Ferrari focuses on improving before Sunday

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur agreed with Leclerc’s assessment after Friday’s sessions, saying the team faced unusually demanding conditions and that the circuit offered limited grip. He also stressed that the track is likely to evolve, making it important for Ferrari to anticipate how conditions will change before qualifying and the race.

“Over the last five or six weekends [this is] the first one we are more focused on degradation than something else,” he said. “Conditions are a bit extreme and, for everybody, it’s almost a new track.

“It means that we have a lot to do and a lot to improve. Also, the track was quite poor in terms of grip today – it will probably improve tomorrow. It means that we need to anticipate everything to be ready for tomorrow.”

Why This Matters

Friday’s results suggest that Ferrari has competitive one-lap pace, but the order remains unsettled because Red Bull and Mercedes did not show their full potential on the soft tyres. The severity of tyre degradation could therefore become more important than the practice standings when teams prepare their race strategies.

Ferrari’s immediate priority is to understand how its car behaves as grip improves and tyre temperatures develop at Sepang. Leclerc and Vasseur both indicated that further work is required before Sunday, particularly in managing degradation across the circuit’s most sensitive corners.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Charles Leclerc expect to decide the Sepang race?

Leclerc expects tyre degradation to be the main factor influencing the race and believes small performance differences in certain corners could have a major effect on tyre life.

Did Ferrari show the strongest pace on Friday?

Ferrari produced strong practice results, with Leclerc topping FP2, but Leclerc said Red Bull appeared to stand out and that Mercedes was difficult to assess because its drivers did not complete clean soft-tyre laps.

What are Ferrari’s priorities before Sunday?

Ferrari needs to adapt to changing track conditions, improve its understanding of degradation and maximise the car’s performance as grip levels evolve at the Sepang International Circuit.