Charles Leclerc put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets on Friday at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sepang, delivering an encouraging performance with the SF-26 both over a single lap and on race pace. However, the Monegasque driver is refusing to read too much into Ferrari’s early advantage, particularly with Mercedes and Red Bull still potentially having more performance to unlock.
Charles Leclerc puts Ferrari on top at Sepang
Ferrari ended Friday at Sepang ahead of the entire field, with Charles Leclerc setting the benchmark on the timesheets. The SF-26’s performance appeared encouraging, particularly as the Monegasque was competitive both on his qualifying-style runs and over longer sequences.
The Friday performance can also be assessed alongside the wider F1 practice and long-run data, with race pace potentially offering an important indication of how competitive Ferrari can remain as the weekend develops.
There is no excessive excitement inside the Ferrari garage yet, however. The team has already seen the SF-26 run near or at the front on Fridays more than once this season, only to fall backwards when qualifying arrived. That recent history explains why Charles Leclerc is approaching the rest of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend cautiously despite his promising start.
Charles Leclerc cautious over Ferrari’s Bahrain GP prospects
“I felt pretty good with the car today,” Charles Leclerc explained in his interview with F1TV. However, the Ferrari driver believes the Friday classification may not yet reveal the true competitive order.
“I still think Red Bull can be very competitive this weekend. Isack made a few mistakes in the last part of his lap and Max didn’t do the lap on the softs. I don’t think we are the most competitive and Mercedes is difficult to understand.”
That uncertainty is particularly significant given Ferrari’s battle with its main rivals. The relative performance of the leading teams across the season can also be followed through Ferrari’s comparison with its Formula 1 rivals.
Charles Leclerc expects Mercedes upgrades to deliver
Charles Leclerc also focused specifically on Mercedes. The championship-leading team appears to have introduced upgrades at Sepang, although the changes did not immediately produce another obvious step forward for the W17 on Friday. Nevertheless, the Ferrari driver believes it would be a mistake to underestimate Mercedes based on the opening sessions.
“They don’t often get upgrades wrong, so I wouldn’t underestimate them,” Charles Leclerc said with a smile. “I’m sure that once they put everything together, they’ll be very strong. They’ve been the favourites since the first race and normally when they put something on the car, it works very well. We’ll see how it goes.”
Mercedes has already demonstrated the underlying strength of the W17 throughout the 2026 campaign, while its development programme remains an important part of the championship picture. More background on the team’s upgrade situation can be found in the analysis of Mercedes’ W17 upgrade programme and its remaining development potential.
For Ferrari, Friday at Sepang therefore provided reasons for encouragement without offering definitive answers. Charles Leclerc’s pace showed that the SF-26 can be competitive around the Malaysian circuit, but the real test will come as Mercedes and Red Bull refine their packages and the weekend moves towards qualifying.
