Charles Leclerc arrives at the Belgian Grand Prix of Formula 1, determined to confirm Ferrari’s recent progress. After the surprising victory at the British GP, the Monegasque stated that his main goal at Spa-Francorchamps is to show that the team’s performance in Silverstone was not an isolated episode.
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Ferrari entered the British round expecting difficulties and believing they would be behind Mercedes. However, the final result changed the perception within the Italian team and raised questions about the real potential of the car for the rest of the season.
At Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton took pole for the Sprint race and finished second in the short race, while Leclerc secured second position on the grid for the main GP. On Sunday, the Monegasque driver led 42 of the 52 laps to claim his first victory since 2024, in a race ended with a partial Ferrari one-two, thanks to Hamilton’s third place.
The triumph was also favored by a problem on Kimi Antonelli’s car in the final laps, when the Mercedes driver was pressuring Leclerc for the lead. Still, Ferrari’s performance fueled speculation about a possible entry of the team into the title fight in the championship.
Leclerc, however, took a more cautious tone when assessing the chances at Spa: “Personally, I’m not really focused on that. I think my focus will just be trying to have that feeling in the car again,” he said when asked about the possibility of fighting for another win.
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“If I have that feeling in the car, I am confident I can extract the maximum from it. If not, everything can be more complicated,” he said. The driver highlighted that the priority is to repeat the understanding achieved about the car’s behavior after an important breakthrough obtained on Friday at Silverstone, which helped minimize balance problems faced throughout the year.
According to Leclerc, Ferrari continues to work intensely to challenge Mercedes: “We expected a very difficult weekend at Silverstone. Before the race, we believed Spa would be even more complicated. Considering that we won, maybe we are a little closer than we initially thought, but that still needs to be proven,” he added.
The Monegasque reinforced that the team’s focus is on understanding why the performance at the British GP was so much better than expected: “I will not focus only on winning, because that would be the wrong approach. I will focus on the process to get the best possible feeling in the car and maximize its potential,” he concluded.
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