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Charles Leclerc rediscovered his mojo by winning the 2026 Formula 1 British Grand Prix and he has credited behind-the-scenes changes for doing so.
The Ferrari driver overtook Mercedes polesitter Kimi Antonelli on lap one for his first victory since the 2024 United States Grand Prix and the ninth of his career.
It put an end to a recent poor run in the 2026 campaign where he had just four points in three grands prix heading into Silverstone, including crashes in the Monaco race and Barcelona qualifying.
That caused an interesting situation to develop at Ferrari as, after comfortably beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton last year, Leclerc has dropped behind in 2026 after failing to adapt to the all-new cars as well as the seven-time world champion.
But after qualifying second for Sunday’s race at Silverstone, ahead of third-placed Hamilton, Leclerc revealed he got the feeling back within his car before the win.
“It means a lot,” said Leclerc of his victory. “When things get tough, and that's literally the situation I've been [in] in the last few races, obviously there's a lot of negativity around me in general, with narratives being created, and it's never a nice environment to work in.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
“But to keep our head down and to keep working very hard and get the result that we got today, I'm super proud of the whole team that have been pushing me and helping me to find that feeling again with the car.
“It’s only a first step and I've got to prove that on multiple track layouts, but on such a track where confidence is key, I wouldn't have been able to do that without the feeling. So that's really good.”
Leclerc revealed after qualifying he had “two approaches” to rediscover his form where he either changes his “driving style completely” to “reproduce what Lewis is doing”, or “keep pushing in my direction”.
The Monegasque opted for the latter to adapt the car more to his driving style, sticking “with what I know worked in the past”, while ignoring the outside criticism that recently emerged.
“Whenever there's so much negativity around, it's not something so nice to see, so you try to cancel the noise as much as possible,” added Leclerc.
“I try to not look at my phone and focus on what is relevant, and in order to also have the right picture of the situation, because things are said and you go from hero to zero, from zero to hero, in like two days in this sport.
“So it can influence the way you see a situation. My job was really to just try and cancel that noise, to not look at anything, to not listen to anything.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
“I know that I didn't become a bad driver from one day to the other. It was just a matter of finding that feeling with the car.
"These cars are very specific, are very different to the way we've been driving since we started racing, and so it takes a bit more time to get used to it.
“I was very strong for the first part of the season, then I lost a bit of feeling with the car. We changed quite a few things with the car and it took a bit more time than what I had wished to get back to the level I wanted.
“On top of that, we've had some issues on [Sundays] that cost me quite a lot of points. So altogether, it wasn't a nice situation to be in, but I'm very happy to get out of this situation in this way.”
But with the 2026 season being only nine rounds old and Leclerc sitting 39 points behind Hamilton in the championship, he’s well aware that this form must now be produced consistently.
“It's still the beginning,” he said. “It’s only one race and I must not get carried away thinking that the war is over.
“The battle with this car has been quite a lot recently and I cannot take it for granted that now it's behind me. So, I'll keep working and try to get that feeling more often going ahead."
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