Charles Leclerc no longer really seems to believe in his chances of winning the world title this season and the Monegasque even knows which driver he would like to see crowned: Kimi Antonelli.
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Leclerc has only won one Grand Prix since the start of the 2026 season, at Silverstone, notably benefiting from a mechanical problem encountered by Antonelli while the Mercedes driver was chasing him.
Rather than thinking about the championship, the Ferrari driver now prefers to set a more immediate goal.
“I’m not thinking about the championship yet; I want to win another race. The work I’m doing is paying off,” he explained to Sky Sports Italia.
Leclerc sees himself in Antonelli
With Ferrari now in a difficult position in the title race, Leclerc does not hide his sympathy for Antonelli: “If Ferrari didn’t win the title, I would be happy for Kimi to win it. He is incredibly enthusiastic, it reminds me of how I was when I made my debut.”
At the time of the restart after the summer break, Antonelli holds a particularly favorable position. The Italian has a 50-point lead over Lewis Hamilton and 59 over his teammate George Russell. Leclerc is even further down the standings.
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However, the Ferrari driver does not intend to give up on the season. He believes the hierarchy can still change quickly thanks to the development of the cars.
Ferrari must stay aggressive
Leclerc notably cites McLaren, whose significant upgrades introduced in Hungary allowed a significant leap forward: “The upgrades are much more important than in the past because they can allow us to make a huge step forward. We saw it with McLaren at the last Grand Prix in Hungary,” he explains.
He therefore asks Ferrari to maintain the pace in the second half of the season: “It will be important that we stay above all that and continue to be aggressive, as aggressive as we have been with our development program. We will see how it evolves.”
For Leclerc, the priority remains to regularly find victory. But if Ferrari ultimately cannot win the title, seeing Antonelli become champion would clearly be a welcome consolation.
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