Charles Leclerc Admits Gap to Hamilton at Ferrari

Charles Leclerc admitted he still has work to do after again being outpaced by team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Sprint Qualifying for the 2026 British Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver finished fourth while Hamilton claimed Sprint pole at Silverstone.

The result extended a difficult recent run for Leclerc. He has not returned to the podium since the Japanese Grand Prix in March, while Hamilton has taken his first Ferrari victory in Barcelona and added two further podiums since then.

Leclerc described Ferrari’s Silverstone pace as a positive surprise for the team. After a difficult weekend in Austria, the Scuderia had not expected to be this competitive against the leading cars, let alone to secure Sprint pole through Hamilton.

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“We are extremely surprised with Lewis taking pole today, but in general we were expecting a much bigger gap to the cars in front,” Leclerc said.

Hamilton set the benchmark throughout Friday. He topped the sole one-hour practice session and then led all three segments of Sprint Qualifying, while Leclerc looked competitive in SQ1 and SQ2 before dropping to fourth in the final order.

Leclerc admitted he does not yet have the same feeling with this year’s car that he had with last season’s machine. He believes Hamilton is more often able to extract the full potential of the Ferrari, while he is still struggling to consistently reach that level.

“I have got to work on everything, but most importantly it is just the feeling with this car,” Leclerc said.

“When you do not quite get the feeling, it is difficult to extract the lap time and have the confidence every time you go into qualifying to reach the limit of the car,” he added.

Leclerc’s difficulty was most visible in the decisive SQ3 phase. He felt close to the limit during the first two segments and entered the final run with confidence, but lost control of the car when the pressure increased.

The situation highlights an increasingly important internal Ferrari dynamic heading into the Sprint and main qualifying. Hamilton carries strong momentum at Silverstone, while Leclerc must rediscover confidence in the SF-26 to avoid losing further ground in both the intra-team battle and the wider fight at the front of the 2026 season.