Charles Leclerc had a positive first day for Ferrari at the 2026 F1 Barcelona Shakedown and is excited to see how Ferrari fares against the competition. In an Interview with F1 after completing his run, Leclerc shared his excitement to be back in a “very different” car.
“It was nice to be back in the car, back in a very, very all-new car, and very different from what we’ve been driving so far.”
Leclerc says “everything is working properly” after the first day for Ferrari at the F1 2026 Barcelona Shakedown
The Ferrari driver was pleased that “everything is working properly,” explaining that the focus was on checking the new systems rather than performance. Leclerc completed his run, even though rain led to less-than-ideal track conditions. Nevertheless, the 8-time GP winner completed his run before handing over the wheel to teammate Lewis Hamilton for the afternoon session of the F1 Barcelona Shakedown.
“For now, it’s all about trying to understand if everything is working properly, which it kind of did.
“It’s not the best conditions because it’s been a little bit raining this morning, but actually, we did our programme anyway because again, we’re not focused on performance or whatsoever.
“We’re more about looking at all the systems that are new on this car and see if everything works as it should, and it did, so that’s a positive.
“And then we’ll go through slowly our programme.”
Ferrari set to complete “checklist” before putting performance to the test
Ferrari completed the first of three days at the 2026 F1 Barcelona Shakedown, focusing on a preliminary check of all the new parts. Leclerc noted that “everything went properly,” and over the two remaining testing days, Ferrari will work through its “checklist” before putting the SF-26’s performance to the test.
“Well, I think for now, obviously being the first morning, we’ve gone through the very first preliminary check of the car, which everything went properly, and little by little we’ll just go through our checklist of the first systems to then eventually what matters most, which is performance.
“But this will come probably a bit later on in those three days and trying to understand first how everything behaves and then see how it goes.”
Leclerc is excited to see how Ferrari fares compared to F1 competitors
After his first day at the F1 2026 Barcelona shakedown, Leclerc is excited to see how Ferrari will fare against competitors once they start putting the performance of the SF-26 to the test.
Looking ahead to the 2026 F1 season, Leclerc hopes that with the new regulations, Ferrari has managed to make a difference. The Maranello-based team has not secured a title since 2008. Leclerc thus hopes that 2026 will be the year the team returns to the top.
“I’m very excited. I’m very excited to see what the others have in store and when we start pushing a little bit more to see where we are compared to the others.
“I think this year is a big opportunity for every team to do something different and to maybe gain a bigger advantage than what we’ve seen in the last few years.
“I hope we are the team that will manage to make the difference. But wherever we start, we will push at the maximum to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. It’s been quite a few years, so I hope that this one is ours.”
