Ferrari deliberately kept Charles Leclerc on the same set of hard tyres until lap 48 of the Madrid Grand Prix because the team was waiting for a race interruption that could have transformed fourth place into a possible fight for victory. Fred Vasseur has explained that the unusually long stint was not simply about extending tyre life, but part of a calculated strategic gamble.
At first glance, leaving Charles Leclerc out for so long appeared extreme. Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen had already made their stops by taking advantage of the Virtual Safety Car, while Lando Norris had also pitted. Ferrari, however, had identified one specific opportunity worth pursuing.
Why Ferrari kept Charles Leclerc out for 48 laps in Madrid
Following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement, Charles Leclerc moved into fourth place. When the leading three drivers stopped under the VSC, the Monegasque inherited the lead. At that point, Ferrari decided against immediately calling him into the pits and instead kept open a strategic window that had the potential to completely change the outcome of his race.
The decision was also shaped by the characteristics of the new Madrid circuit. With walls positioned close to the track and several incidents having already occurred during the weekend, Ferrari considered another neutralisation a realistic possibility. Concerns over the potential for incidents and stoppages had already been a major talking point around the challenging new Madrid circuit.
Ferrari was waiting for a red flag that could change the race
Fred Vasseur explained the logic behind the gamble. A red flag would have allowed Charles Leclerc to change tyres during the suspension without surrendering his position on track. According to the Ferrari team principal, that scenario could even have allowed the Scuderia to “fight for the victory”.
A Safety Car or another Virtual Safety Car would not have offered the same advantage, but it would still have significantly reduced the time lost during a pit stop. That could have given Charles Leclerc at least an opportunity to attack for a podium rather than simply accept fourth position.
None of those scenarios materialised. Ferrari therefore finally brought Charles Leclerc into the pits on lap 48, fitted a set of soft tyres and sent him back out in fourth place. He remained there until the chequered flag.
Ferrari believed the strategy carried little downside
The key to the strategy was that Ferrari had very little to lose by extending the stint. Charles Leclerc himself explained that if the team had chosen the opposite approach and followed a more conventional strategy, he would still have finished fourth behind Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and race winner Kimi Antonelli.
That made waiting worthwhile. Instead of immediately settling for a result that already appeared largely predetermined, Ferrari kept Charles Leclerc on track and waited for an opportunity capable of changing the competitive picture completely.
The gamble ultimately did not pay off, but the logic was clear. Without another intervention, fourth place was the likely outcome anyway. With a red flag, Safety Car or VSC at the right moment, the Scuderia potentially had much more to gain.
The strategy was another example of Ferrari attempting to exploit the particular circumstances of a circuit where track position carried major importance. Before the weekend, the team had also considered how the SF-26’s characteristics could suit Madring, but the race ultimately became a question of creating an opportunity through strategy.
Leclerc’s long hard-tyre stint was more than simple waiting
Those 48 laps on the same set of hard tyres were therefore not a passive exercise in waiting. They represented Ferrari’s attempt to turn an almost certain fourth place into something substantially bigger.
Charles Leclerc kept the option alive until late in the race, knowing that a single interruption could dramatically reduce the cost of his mandatory stop or, in the case of a red flag, potentially allow him to retain track position altogether. When that opportunity failed to arrive, Ferrari reverted to the expected outcome and brought him home fourth.
The final result did not reward the gamble, but the reasoning behind it explains why the Scuderia was prepared to extend the stint so far. More coverage of the Monegasque’s 2026 campaign and Ferrari performances can be found in the Charles Leclerc section.
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