Opening practice sessions at the Brazilian Grand Prix delivered a harsh reality check for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc struggled immensely with the handling of his SF-26 challenger around the Interlagos circuit. During the second practice session, the Scuderia duo found themselves down in sixth and seventh places, significantly adrift from the benchmark pace set by Kimi Antonelli aboard his Silver Arrow.
This lack of immediate pace comes as an unusual setback for the Maranello squad, which typically shows strong competitive speed right from the opening day of a Grand Prix weekend. Leclerc, who sat out the first practice session to hand his car over to junior driver Dino Beganovic and later faced traffic from Rafael Camara in FP2, admitted that the car felt entirely foreign and deeply uncompetitive through the twists and turns of the Brazilian layout.
"It has been a very, very difficult Friday," Leclerc remarked when summarizing his challenging track sessions. The Monegasque driver made it clear that the sensation inside the cockpit was far below acceptable standards, rating it among the poorest Friday feelings he has endured throughout the entire racing campaign.
"The feeling was just very poor inside the car, so we've got a lot of work to do—and probably more than other weekends—to change quite a lot the car from today to tomorrow. It just felt quite strange, in a way. Lots of changes to be made," he explained regarding the scale of setup adjustments required overnight.
While Ferrari anticipated a deficit on the long straight sections, the severe lack of grip and confidence inside the corners caught the team off guard. "We were losing for sure in the straights, but the car in the corners just felt probably one of the worst Friday feelings of the season. So there's a lot to be found in corners, more than in the straights, where we know we have a deficit," Leclerc added.
Addressing the team's overnight outlook, principal Frederic Vasseur acknowledged the numerous technical hurdles faced by both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, though he maintained a composed perspective regarding their competitive recovery for the remainder of the event.
"A lot to do on the balance. The drivers were not happy. Charles didn't do FP1 this morning. We had a couple of issues today and a lot of work to prepare tomorrow," Vasseur stated, while emphasizing that the team remains fully focused on fine-tuning deployment maps and aerodynamic balance ahead of the qualifying battles.
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