Charles Leclerc issues Ferrari firm demand in ongoing F1 war

Charles Leclerc has told Ferrari it must deliver upgrades earlier than its F1 rivals to deliver success in grand prix racing.

Ferrari's progress has stalled of late in F1, with just three podiums in the last eight races since Leclerc's victory at the British Grand Prix in July, with his second-place finish in Singapore his first rostrum since finishing runner-up to Kimi Antonelli in the Belgian GP before the summer break.

The team remains secure in second place in the constructors' championship, and is 105 points clear of McLaren, and 112 clear of a resurgent Red Bull whose upgrades in Azerbaijan have unleashed devastating potential from the RB22, with Max Verstappen winning two of the three races in the recent triple-header, plus the Singapore Sprint.

Verstappen is now six points above Leclerc in the drivers' standings in fourth place, with the Monégasque believing that the Scuderia has slipped down the pecking order of late with no big upgrades of its own. 

The team did not deliver any major upgrades in Singapore, and with the relative immaturity of the 2026 chassis regulations, fresh upgrades are providing teams with huge boosts in performance.

This is a flip from 2025, when, in the final year of the ground effect regulations, leading teams seldom brought big upgrades due to the law of diminishing returns, as their concepts were maxed out.

With the revolution in chassis design for 2026, it means teams have huge scope for upgrades, with this being seen in the wild swings in performance between the leading teams as they each leapfrog each other.

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The fight closes up

With this in mind, Leclerc was eager for Ferrari to ensure it was not left behind. 

"It's too early to say, but it's true that we've brought some small parts here and there on the car, which maybe helped us to take a step forward," he told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if the SF-26 was back in a good performance window after his strong weekend at Marina Bay.

"But we cannot forget as well the tendency of the last three races before this one. And the tendency I'm speaking about is that we are losing a little bit of pace compared to Red Bull, compared to Mercedes and also compared to McLaren. 

"But McLaren have been struggling a little bit more, maybe in Sepang and here. 

"At the end of the day, it's all about who brings the upgrades as early as possible, and hopefully we'll be the ones to take a bigger step than the others with the next upgrades we bring."

Following the Marina Bay race, just 37 points separate George Russell in second and Lando Norris in sixth in the standings in the fight for second place, with Leclerc currently fifth. 

Below, we've listed all the drivers who can mathematically finish as runner-up to Kimi Antonelli, who holds a 102-point advantage at the head of the standings, with the Italian expected to seal his first title either in the United States or, more likely, in Mexico City. 

But who do you think will be finishing as runner-up?