‘I had no doubt this was the right decision’ – Leclerc on the ‘big reason’ why he re-signed with Ferrari

Charles Leclerc has admitted that his belief in Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur was a “big reason” why he re-signed with the squad, with the Monegasque saying that this left him in “no doubt that this was the right decision”.

The start of the 2026 campaign had its ups and downs for Leclerc, who experienced a particularly tricky spell featuring two DNFs and a P8 finish across Monaco, Barcelona and Austria.

Amidst this, it was announced that the 28-year-old had agreed a new multi-year deal with Ferrari which will see him race in red for the “coming seasons” – and during an appearance on the latest episode of the official F1 podcast Beyond The Grid, Leclerc shed further light on what encouraged him to commit to the Italian outfit.

‘I believe in Fred 200 per cent’

Leclerc conceded that it “just felt right” to re-sign with Ferrari, for whom he has raced since his sophomore F1 season in 2019.

“That sometimes doesn't need more explanation in a way that, for me, this is where I belong, for now,” he explained. “This is where I feel good. This is where I am the most motivated to do well, just because I love this team so much.

“It's been many years since I've joined Ferrari, the Formula 1 team since 2019, but I've been within the Ferrari family for even longer. I don't want to give up on my ultimate goal, which is to become a World Champion with Ferrari.

“I believe in the project, I believe in every single person of the team. I think we are in a year where we've been showing innovation. We are very aggressive also in the production plan and in the upgrades we are bringing. That gives me lots of hopes for the future.”

Alongside this, Leclerc pointed to his relationship with Vasseur as a key factor in wanting to continue on with the team.

“Fred is a big reason why I have signed again as well,” he continued. “I believe in Fred 200 percent. We've known each other for many years now and to be able to work with him in the team I've always loved is a privilege.

“So, for me, I had no doubt that this was the right decision for me. It feels like I know Fred since forever. He's the kind of person that you speak once and, I don't know, I think it's the values. There's just something that was naturally working from the beginning and you cannot quite explain that.

“But from the very first talks, it felt like I've known him forever. So, obviously, the bond is stronger than just a work, business relationship.”

Where things went wrong during the first half of 2026

Leclerc’s difficult run during the first half of the season marked a contrast to the good fortune being experienced by team mate Lewis Hamilton at that stage, with the seven-time World Champion scoring two P2 finishes in Canada and Monaco before claiming his first Ferrari win in Barcelona.

The driver from Monaco felt that his options at this point would be either to look at the set-up on his car or try to adapt his driving style, something that he conceded can be a challenge.

“It's not as easy as, ‘Oh, Lewis is doing that. I'll just do the same.’ Lewis is an incredibly talented driver and has a natural driving style that is his and he's the best in the world for that particular driving style,” said Leclerc.

“To reproduce that is very tricky. I tried to push more into trying to find ways to have this car a bit more fitted to my driving style. I found a few things in the data that was just not working. Again, in Formula 1, it's not always black and white.

“It's not like you sit in front of your computer, look at the data and say, ‘Oh, this is one tenth and a half of a second. Let's change that.’ It's not as easy as that. It's intuition. It's feeling. It's things that you might think, ‘Okay, this is what makes me a bit less comfortable in the car. And if I improve that feeling, then performance will come.’”

After making some changes during the Silverstone weekend – where he went on to take victory – Leclerc felt that this went in the “right direction” and has since tried to focus on not overthinking.

“The car is constantly changing so it's not like I can really go back to that feeling I had in Melbourne, so it's evolving but my goal is to get into the car and not overthink,” he explained.

“When you overthink, you know that you are losing time on the table because our sport is not a lot about reacting on what's happening on the car. It's more about anticipating and feeling the car. Getting into a corner, I need to know exactly the way the car will behave so I don't have to overthink about things.

“I think overthinking is killing performance. When things come naturally, that's where I think the flow state that we speak about, racing drivers or athletes as well, the flow state when things just flow naturally is really where you use 100 per cent of your potential. When you've got to overthink things, that’s where it becomes trickier.”

Can Ferrari challenge Mercedes?

Ferrari remain in second place of the Teams’ Championship, albeit with a deficit of 87 points to Mercedes.

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, Leclerc admitted that the development race means it is “very difficult to predict” whether the Scuderia can challenge the Silver Arrows for the top spot.

“It’s not something I really want to put energy towards thinking about too much,” the nine-time race winner said. “This championship will be won with upgrades. The upgrades are so powerful with these cars.

“We've got a lot less downforce than we used to in the past, so every point of downforce you add to this car has got a much bigger influence on how the car feels like on track. So the pecking order can change so quickly one way or another.

“I'm very much focused race by race and not really thinking about the long-term picture about if we've got a real shot with that championship. But surely until it's not finished, I'll keep believing in it and we'll see how it goes.

“The championship is something that I will dream of ticking off one day, particularly with the red team, this has been a dream of mine since many years. I feel we are getting closer. When will that be? I don’t know, I hope as early as it can be.”

To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.

You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes – spanning every decade of F1 – in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library.

You can also watch the podcast on the F1 YouTube channel.