Charles Leclerc takes 'difficult situation' stance over key Mercedes battleground

Charles Leclerc insists Ferrari can still put George Russell or Kimi Antonelli in a "difficult situation" in races, despite Mercedes' pace advantage over the Italian team.

It has been a strong start to the F1 season for the Scuderia, with back-to-back podiums — one for Leclerc and one for Lewis Hamilton — in Melbourne and Shanghai.

However, whilst the SF-26 is undeniably a stronger package than its predecessor, it is currently no match for the W17 over one lap, or a full race distance.

Although both Leclerc and Hamilton have been able to put the Mercedes drivers under considerable pressure, and take the lead, in the opening phases of the first two rounds through superior energy management and flexibility at that stage of the race, it has proven unsustainable over the duration.

It has led to the Ferrari pair estimating there is a three-to-five-tenths deficit to the Brackley-based squad's car in race trim at the moment, despite Mercedes suggestion the gap is smaller.

After Antonelli beat Hamilton and Leclerc by over 25 and almost 29 seconds, respectively, at the Chinese Grand Prix, RacingNews365 asked the latter if the result was validation for the team-mates' joint argument.

"Yes," the eight-time winner replied. "We were all... I mean, I'm not gonna say I was waiting for that because I was hoping that this day, or this pace, we would never see.

"But I feel like after testing, there were things that were just not stacking up in the races; I didn't understand why we were so close in Australia, why we were so close in the sprint [at the Chinese Grand Prix].

"I guess now it's a little bit more in line.

"But that doesn't mean we cannot put them under pressure and into a difficult situation, because with the fighting of these cars, it can be quite interesting."

'Things in the pipeline'

The early-race fighting between Mercedes and Ferrari has been one of the most entertaining aspects of the campaign so far, and the Prancing Horse will deliver upgrades to combat the current performance disadvantage.

Leclerc, however, is unsure how much it will close the pace delta between the two cars.

"There are things in the pipeline," the 28-year-old said.

"How much difference this is going to make when we see the gap with Mercedes, I don't know."