Charles Leclerc has admitted that he has never felt as comfortable driving a Ferrari in wet conditions as he did in the junior categories, despite spending nine years with the Maranello team. However, the Monegasque believes the experimental approach adopted during qualifying for the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix could represent an important step towards overcoming that long-standing difficulty.
Although Charles Leclerc set the fourth-fastest time at Interlagos, his ten-place grid penalty means he will start Sunday’s race from the seventh row. With the penalties affecting both Ferrari drivers, the exceptionally long, rain-disrupted session offered relatively little in terms of the final starting positions. Nevertheless, Charles Leclerc emerged with valuable information that could prove useful both in the race and further into the future.
Reflecting on the work completed during qualifying, the Ferrari driver explained: “It was very interesting, and I think and hope that all of this will help us achieve greater consistency and a better feeling in conditions like these.”
Charles Leclerc reveals nine years of Ferrari wet-weather difficulties
Wet-weather performance has rarely been one of Ferrari’s strengths in recent years, and Charles Leclerc acknowledged that finding confidence in these conditions has remained a persistent challenge throughout his time with the team.
Despite being dissatisfied with his final qualifying position, the Monegasque considered the session far more productive than the result suggested, particularly because he and his engineers were able to explore different approaches to the SF-26.
“It was a much more positive qualifying session than the result we achieved. I’m not happy with the result, but I think it was one of the sessions in which I learned the most, and in which we learned the most as a team. Knowing that we had a ten-place penalty, I decided to be much more aggressive in terms of the directions we took during qualifying, with the wing, with other things and with the tools on the steering wheel.”
The opportunity to experiment was particularly important given Charles Leclerc’s long-standing struggle to reproduce the confidence he previously enjoyed when racing in the rain.
“I think it was an experiment that will pay off, because I’ve been at Ferrari for nine years and, to tell the truth, I’ve never had the same feeling in the wet that I had in the junior categories. The wet has always been my strong point, but at Ferrari I’ve always struggled, and we still need to find the right solution.”
He continued: “But I think today was positive because we tried so many things and, at certain moments of qualifying, we found a feeling in conditions where I usually have none with this car.”
The comments highlight why the session was significant beyond the qualifying classification. Charles Leclerc believes the different adjustments explored with Ferrari could help the team better understand how to extract performance and provide him with greater confidence in challenging conditions.
Why Ferrari’s experimental approach backfired in Q3
Interestingly, Charles Leclerc experienced his worst sensations during Q3, despite having previously found encouraging performance in the wet. The Ferrari driver explained that the team continued experimenting throughout the session, eventually moving beyond the settings that had delivered the best feeling.
“There was a very good feeling, but then in Q3, as we continued experimenting, we ended up on the wrong side. It was a session in which we had a lot of performance at certain points and much less at others, especially on the intermediates towards the end. But honestly, it was a good session.”
The experience illustrated both the potential benefits and the limitations of the adjustments explored during qualifying. Ferrari found encouraging performance in some circumstances, but not every change produced the desired result.
The differences between individual qualifying segments and sector performances can be examined through the F1 qualifying pace and sector comparison, which provides further insight into lap times and performance variations across a session.
Charles Leclerc explains how his Brazilian GP grid penalty encouraged experimentation
The ten-place grid penalty played a decisive role in Ferrari’s approach to qualifying. With Charles Leclerc already certain to lose positions on the starting grid, the team could afford to take greater risks with its adjustments rather than concentrating exclusively on extracting the fastest possible qualifying lap.
That freedom allowed the Monegasque to investigate different settings and gain a better understanding of the SF-26’s behaviour in wet conditions, even though Formula 1’s parc fermé regulations limited the changes Ferrari could make.
“We tried lots of different things. We knew we were going to take the penalty anyway, so we could afford to take a few more risks and experiment much more with the car, even going as far as stopping during laps.”
“Although there are parc fermé restrictions and we can’t change too many things, there are still certain adjustments we can make, and they allowed us to understand a lot of things today. So it was a positive session.”
Ferrari’s willingness to use qualifying as an opportunity to learn was particularly relevant at a circuit where heavy rain and changing grip conditions present major technical challenges.
For Charles Leclerc, the fourth-fastest qualifying time was therefore only part of the picture. The more encouraging development was the knowledge gained through a series of experiments that would normally involve greater risk during a conventional qualifying session.
Although the final Q3 adjustments did not produce the desired feeling, the Ferrari driver believes the information collected could help the team work towards greater consistency in the wet.
With a seventh-row start awaiting him at Interlagos, Charles Leclerc’s immediate challenge will be recovering positions in Sunday’s Grand Prix. However, the work completed during qualifying could also have longer-term significance if Ferrari succeeds in turning those lessons into improved wet-weather performance.
Further developments surrounding the Monegasque’s performance and his progress with Ferrari can be followed through the latest Charles Leclerc news and analysis.
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