Charles Leclerc’s Spanish GP race pace was within 0.1s of Max Verstappen despite 24.8s finish gap

Charles Leclerc’s underlying race pace at the Spanish Grand Prix was considerably stronger than Ferrari’s final result suggested. Across the Madring race, the Monegasque averaged a smoothed lap time of 98.44 seconds, just 0.09s slower than Max Verstappen’s 98.35s benchmark, despite eventually finishing 24.8 seconds behind the Red Bull driver.

That contrast is one of the most revealing numbers from Ferrari’s Madrid weekend. The final classification suggested a sizeable gap between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, but the race-pace averages place the two drivers almost together. The raw pace difference alone was nowhere near large enough to account for the eventual 24.8-second separation, meaning the finishing margin does not accurately represent their relative speed across the race.

Charles Leclerc’s Spanish GP race pace was almost identical to Max Verstappen’s

Max Verstappen ranked fourth overall on average race pace at 98.35 seconds, while Charles Leclerc followed immediately behind at 98.44s. That represents only 0.09s per lap between Red Bull and Ferrari in this metric.

The comparison is especially interesting because the two drivers followed different tyre sequences. Max Verstappen’s race was classified as a soft-to-hard strategy, while Charles Leclerc ran hard-to-soft. That makes the whole-race averages useful for understanding their overall performance, while also meaning they should not be treated as a pure same-compound comparison at every stage.

For Ferrari, the important conclusion is that the SF-26 had enough race pace to operate very close to Max Verstappen around Madring. Charles Leclerc’s finishing deficit therefore paints a much harsher picture than the underlying average speed of the car.

Lando Norris was the clear Spanish GP race-pace benchmark

Lando Norris produced the fastest average race pace of the field at 97.94 seconds. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was second at 98.18s, 0.24s per lap slower, while George Russell followed on 98.24s.

Max Verstappen was 0.41s per lap away from Lando Norris, with Charles Leclerc another 0.09s behind the Red Bull. The McLaren driver therefore held a clear pace advantage over both of them, supporting the view that he had been in a strong position to win before the Virtual Safety Car timing worked against him and contributed to a third-place finish.

Charles Leclerc was nevertheless comfortably ahead of the next group in the global average. Liam Lawson was sixth on 99.46s, more than one second per lap slower than the Ferrari driver, while Oscar Piastri recorded 99.58s.

Full 2026 Spanish GP race pace ranking

The figures below use the smoothed mean lap time across the race. A lower number represents faster average pace. The final column records the tyre sequence included in the analysis, with M representing medium, H hard and S soft.

Ferrari’s final result did not reflect the SF-26’s underlying pace

The comparison reinforces a theme that has followed Ferrari through several races in 2026: the final outcome can look considerably worse than the car’s underlying race performance. At Madring, Charles Leclerc’s average was only half a second per lap away from the fastest driver of the race and essentially level with Max Verstappen.

There was also a sizeable break after the leading five. Charles Leclerc averaged 98.44s, while sixth-placed Liam Lawson was at 99.46s. On this measure, the Ferrari therefore belonged firmly inside the leading pace group rather than the midfield cluster behind it.

That does not mean Charles Leclerc had the fastest car. Lando Norris held a clear 0.50s-per-lap advantage over the Ferrari driver in the global average, with both Mercedes drivers also ahead. But the data does suggest that Ferrari’s Madrid race was more competitive than a 24.8-second deficit to Max Verstappen might imply at first glance.

For the Scuderia, that distinction matters. The SF-26 left Madring without a result that fully reflected its race pace, while McLaren demonstrated the strongest underlying speed of the afternoon. In a season where Ferrari has repeatedly needed to convert competitive Sunday performance into better results, Madrid offered another example of why outright pace and the final classification can tell very different stories.