Charles Leclerc: “Choosing where to use energy at Suzuka was like playing chess”. Charles Leclerc battled through Safety Car challenges and energy management at the 2026 F1 Japanese GP.

A hard-fought and well-deserved third place was achieved by Charles Leclerc at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver had to battle throughout the entire race with the resurgent McLaren cars and with the Mercedes of George Russell, overcoming the setback caused by the untimely Safety Car deployment, which had dropped him to fifth position and temporarily favored drivers who had not yet pitted. It was an outstanding performance, highlighted by a spectacular outside overtake on Lewis Hamilton between turns 1 and 2, and excellent defensive maneuvers against George Russell in the final laps, including a position swap between the chicane and the section leading back to turn 1.

Leclerc: “The type of result we need to take home right now”

The Safety Car that came out on lap 22 after Oliver Bearman’s accident significantly penalized the drivers who had already completed their pit stops, and in particular Charles Leclerc, who found himself fifth behind Lewis Hamilton after contesting third place for the entire first stint. A stroke of misfortune that the Monegasque turned into extra motivation: “We had a bit of bad luck with the Safety Car, but in the end, these things happen. Afterward, I tried to channel a little of my frustration from the Safety Car that came out at the wrong moment. I wasn’t very confident, but when the green flag came out again, I closed my visor and pushed to the maximum,” Leclerc said.

Explaining why he initially didn’t feel it was possible to recover a podium, Charles Leclerc added in an interview with Sky Sport F1: “I wasn’t confident because my tires were already a bit worn, and with the Hard tires it’s a bit more difficult to bring them up to temperature, etc. But honestly, in the end, it wasn’t that bad. Surely, we could have done a bit more if we had pitted under the Safety Car, but a third place today is exactly the type of result we need to bring home until, hopefully one day, we have a better car.”

On-track battles and the chess match with Russell

During the press conference for the top three finishers, Leclerc also highlighted that he had a challenging start, despite holding third place for a long time against the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli: “I don’t have many regrets, I think it was still a good race. I’m not entirely sure what happened in the first laps. It felt like I was quite behind the others, but it might have just been an impression, and maybe we were deploying energy at different points. It’s rather complex in the opening laps, especially when everyone is trying to find the optimal zone to do it. But yes, afterward, maybe I had less feeling.”

To secure the podium, Leclerc had to fight from the first to the last lap—not only through overtakes and defensive moves, but also through energy management, which is crucial this season during wheel-to-wheel battles: “It was a fun race. The duels with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell… but it was also a tough race because, with these strategies, it’s all like playing chess. You have to know where to use the energy, where to save it, and I think I had a pretty clear idea of what to do. It wasn’t easy because Suzuka is obviously a very difficult track for overtaking, but it was a fun race,” he said.

Regarding the final duel with George Russell, Leclerc added: “George and his engineer were also quite ‘cheeky.’ His engineer was giving him instructions over the radio, my engineer relayed what was being said, but he was doing the opposite. That put a lot of pressure on me at some point. I think they told him, ‘Use everything on the back straight,’ or maybe on the main straight, and he was doing the opposite. I realized it quickly enough and managed to defend myself, but at one point I was caught off guard at the final corner.”

Charles Leclerc’s battle with Lewis Hamilton was more straightforward, ending with a razor-thin overtake at the finish line straight: “More or less, we had the same straight-line speed, and then you had to go for it, which I did. I was pretty happy to maintain third place in the end,” concluded Charles Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc’s podium at Suzuka was as much a victory of the mind as it was of raw speed. Based on the content of his tactical battle with Mercedes, it’s clear that Ferrari is operating at an elite level of strategy to compensate for their current power deficit.