There is no better answer to criticism than winning a race, and that is one of the reasons why Charles Leclerc’s triumph at the British Grand Prix carries such significance for the Monegasque driver. The criticism that followed his mistakes in Monaco, along with the doubts surrounding his abilities after losing ground to Lewis Hamilton in their head-to-head performances, could easily have taken a psychological toll.
Instead, the Ferrari driver refused to let the negativity overwhelm him. He remained focused on finding solutions to regain the confidence and feeling he had lost with the SF-26. Following his Silverstone victory, Leclerc opened up about how he managed the difficult period, revealing that the weekend had restored not only his own confidence but also that of the entire Ferrari team ahead of the upcoming races.
The response to criticism and shutting out the outside noise
Charles Leclerc’s outstanding victory at Silverstone felt like redemption after several disappointing weekends. The Ferrari driver explained how managing the psychological side of difficult moments was crucial in helping him rediscover his form, despite working in an environment heavily influenced by outside opinions.
“When things get difficult, and that’s literally the situation I found myself in over the last few races, there’s obviously a lot of negativity around me in general, with narratives being created, and it’s never a pleasant environment to work in. But we kept our heads down and continued working hard to achieve the result we achieved. I’m incredibly proud of the whole team that pushed me and helped me rediscover my feeling with the car. As I said, it’s only a first step and I need to prove it on more circuits. But on a track like this, where confidence is everything, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without that feeling, so it’s really fantastic.”
To escape the wave of criticism that surrounded him in recent weeks, the British Grand Prix winner deliberately cut himself off from the outside world.
“I think when there’s so much negativity around, it’s not nice to see. So I try to isolate myself as much as possible. I try not to look at my phone and focus only on what’s relevant so I can have a complete picture of the situation, because in this sport people say everything. You go from hero to zero, or from zero to hero, in two days, and that can influence the way you see a situation. My job was simply to isolate myself from that noise, not to look at anything and not to listen to anything. And I know I hadn’t suddenly become a bad driver overnight,” Leclerc said firmly.
The victory at Silverstone also erased the disappointment of 2021, when he came agonisingly close to victory before being overtaken late in the race by his current Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton.
“Yes, I didn’t really think about it while I was driving… I don’t know if it made up for it, but it feels incredible,” admitted the Ferrari driver.
Surprising pace and a renewed connection with the SF-26
The step forward shown by the Ferrari SF-26 surprised even the team’s own engineers, who had expected to struggle badly at Silverstone. Understanding why the car performed so much better than anticipated will now become one of Maranello’s main priorities.
“I think this weekend was a huge surprise for the whole team. Not today’s victory, but the overall performance. We were much faster than we expected, and I think that just as we analyse weekends when things go much worse than expected, we also have to analyse weekends when things go much better than expected. I remember the meetings we had on Thursday before the weekend and we thought we would be at least five or six tenths off. Instead, we were much stronger and we won. It’s a really special feeling.”
Although the Silverstone victory marks the end of a difficult chapter, Leclerc knows one successful weekend is not enough to guarantee that all the problems have disappeared.
“It was simply about finding the right feeling with the car again. These cars are very particular and very different from anything we’ve driven since we started racing, so it takes a bit longer to adapt. I was very strong during the first part of the season, then I lost some feeling with the car. We changed several things and it took longer than I wanted to get back to the level I was aiming for. On top of that, we had a few problems on Sundays that cost me a lot of points. Overall, it wasn’t a great situation, but I’m very happy to have come through it like this. However, as I said, it’s only the beginning. It’s only one race and I mustn’t fool myself into thinking the war is over. The battle with this car has been quite tough recently and I can’t assume it’s behind me now. I’ll keep working and try to rediscover that feeling more consistently in the future,” the Monegasque explained.
Looking ahead to Spa with the same methodical approach
Looking towards the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Charles Leclerc admits he feels more optimistic than before, although his focus remains firmly on improving the technical package rather than chasing immediate results.
“I think my focus will be on finding that feeling with the car again. If I can find it, I’m confident I’ll be able to extract the maximum from this car. Otherwise, it could become much more complicated. As for the final result, we’re pushing as hard as possible as a team to fight Mercedes. We expected a very difficult weekend here at Silverstone. Before this weekend, I think we were expecting an even tougher one at Spa,” concluded the Ferrari driver.
Even so, Ferrari’s true level still has to be confirmed on Spa’s long straights and high-speed corners, where the team will be looking for further proof that the progress shown at Silverstone is genuine.
“Considering today’s victory, maybe we’re a little closer than we originally thought. But we still have to prove it, and to do that we also need to understand why this weekend was exceptionally positive compared to our expectations. That’s what we’ll focus on. Personally, though, I won’t focus only on the victory because that would be the wrong approach. I’ll focus on the process of finding the best feeling with the car and maximising its potential,” the 28-year-old concluded.
Charles Leclerc therefore credits his British Grand Prix victory to his ability to block out negative external pressure and focus on technical adjustments to regain his rhythm with the Ferrari SF-26.
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