{"id":919725,"date":"2026-10-04T01:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/919725\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T01:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:26:09","slug":"charles-leclerc-demands-ferrari-f1-upgrades-in-red-bull-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/919725\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Leclerc demands Ferrari F1 upgrades in Red Bull battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charles Leclerc<\/a> has urged Ferrari<\/a> to bring F1 upgrades \u201cas soon as possible\u201d in the team\u2019s battle with Red Bull. <\/p>\n

Ferrari trailed Red Bull in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc wants more despite Ferrari progress<\/p>\n

Ferrari has endured the most up-and-down season of any of the established top teams, with qualifying in Sepang among the high points.<\/p>\n

With Lewis Hamilton in second place and Leclerc in fourth, the Monegasque, benefiting from a grid penalty for Red Bull\u2019s Isack Hadjar, Ferrari is set for a strong race.<\/p>\n

However, it has not always been the case this year that Ferrari has been able to translate a positive qualifying performance into the race, with this evidenced last time out as Leclerc tumbled down the order after starting on the front row in Baku.<\/p>\n

By comparison, Red Bull has steadily built, with Max Verstappen establishing himself as a podium regular once again.<\/p>\n

Assessing the improvements of Red Bull, with Verstappen set to start from pole on Sunday, Leclerc said: \u201cNow it\u2019s a few weekends that they are, I would say, more competitive. It looks like they are doing something well for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole weekend they\u2019ve been very strong, and it\u2019s both cars being very strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve got to work, we know that, and we\u2019ve got to bring upgrades as soon as possible to not lose too much in the fight with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also true that this weekend, particularly if you look at Lewis\u2019 lap in Q3, we are not so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

How qualifying unfolded at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia<\/p>\n

Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Verstappen dominates as Hamilton makes front row<\/a><\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying records between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

The pecking order has shifted across the current weekend, with Russell, Kimi Antonelli, and Verstappen all topping a practice session each.<\/p>\n

But when qualifying began, Verstappen emerged as the clear benchmark, with Ferrari the closest challenger as Mercedes faded.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Leclerc refused to rule Mercedes out of contention for Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a bit of a strange weekend,\u201d he said I think for Mercedes, they\u2019ve been extremely strong in some laps and struggling in some others.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if they manage to repeat consistently the extremely strong lap, I think it\u2019s going to be difficult to beat them tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if there\u2019s an opportunity for us to capitalise on them being a little bit more inconsistent this weekend, we need to take that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read Next: Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Verstappen dominates as Hamilton makes front row<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charles Leclerc has urged Ferrari to bring F1 upgrades \u201cas soon as possible\u201d in the team\u2019s battle with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[86840,49,48,3025,578,930,576,577,1613,44,82],"class_list":["post-919725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-bahrain-grand-prix","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}