ABU DHABI: Despite a challenging season that has seen Charles Leclerc struggle to keep up with the title frontrunners, the Ferrari driver has declared himself “satisfied” with his own performances this season.
Barring a win for the 28-year-old Monegasque driver at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, Leclerc is set to endure a second winless campaign in four, having previously won three races in 2024 and 2022.
“Personally, I’m quite satisfied,” Leclerc said in Abu Dhabi. “I think it’s been a strong season on my side. You always try to improve from one season to the other, and that’s what I’ve tried to do this year.
“I’m satisfied with the work. Unfortunately, the performances are not where they should be,” Leclerc added. “I’m not as satisfied about the result side of things and the performance we’ve shown, especially after last year that we ended up strong.”
Leclerc says the team has not managed to meet the expectations set at the beginning of the season, but has gone about fixing the issues throughout the season.
“We’ve pushed,” he said. “I think we reacted well as a team from the first race to the last race, trying to turn that situation around. It wasn’t easy because we didn’t have that many upgrades as we are focusing mostly on 2026, but yeah, I think we performed well as a team on track.
“What we are missing eventually is the performance on the car, and for that, I hope that next year will be better.”
Asked about who he thinks will come out on top in Sunday’s three-way title showdown, Leclerc said: “I’ve changed my mind so many times this year. I thought it was Oscar (Piastri), then I thought it was Max (Verstappen), Then, I don’t know.
“I probably think it’s going to be Lando (Norris). Twelve points is still significant. If nothing big happens to Lando, I think Lando will take it.”
