Charles Leclerc Surprised by More Strategic F1 2026 Racing

Charles Leclerc has shared his positive thoughts on his early-season F1 battle with George Russell in Australia.

Charles Leclerc enjoyed the more strategic racing in his early-season F1 battle with George Russell in Australia, but warns that overtaking will be a lot tougher as the season wears on.

At Melbourne, Charles Leclerc took an early lead but was chased closely by George Russell as they both ran out of fuel at various points on the circuit.

The back-and-forth racing was entertaining for fans but was deemed too artificial by some.

Speaking in the run-up to the Chinese Grand Prix, Leclerc said he enjoyed the early-season racing.

But he warned that as teams and drivers learn more about how to get the most out of the new cars and engines, racing may not be as exciting.

"I think we did a pretty good job in this first race," he said.

"But maybe another team will find an even better way to manage those first few laps.

"Because every time George overtakes me, he runs out of energy. And then I'll overtake him back.

"As the season goes on, I hope to improve a lot, and it will also be interesting to see how things look after that, because overtaking might be a lot harder once everyone optimizes it.

"But if it stays like this, I'm also quite happy, because to me it's quite enjoyable.

"I was actually quite surprised by the first few laps with George, because I enjoyed the racing.

"It's a bit more strategic than it used to be, where there's more racing about who brakes later.

"Now it's a bit less like that – it's more strategic.

"But I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Asked to explain more about what it's like to be in the cockpit, he said that when using energy, he has to think about what happens at the next corner.

"Yeah, it's all about anticipating a lot more than in the past.

"In the past, you could take a lot of risks and do overtaking.

"Now, there's always the question: 'If I do this now, what's going to happen on the next straight or the next couple of straights after that?'

"Because if you use energy, you'll pay a heavy price in one or two straights after that – not directly, but you'll feel it later.

"And all of that is always in your head, and you have to always think about it while driving: 'Is the overtaking maneuver I'm going to do now going to harm me, or can I keep my position later?'

So, without going into too much detail, that's what we're thinking.

Leclerc also said that drivers are still learning from the teams about what they need to know to make the best strategic decisions during a race.

"I think drivers also have very different information inside the car at the moment because we're all a little bit figuring out what we want as drivers.

"And I think the more time passes, the clearer we'll have an idea of what we need and want in the car to make the best decisions.

"But at the moment, there's a lot of room for intuition, which creates scenarios like what we've seen at the start of the race, where there's been a big ebb and flow.

In the lead-up to the first sprint weekend of the season, Leclerc predicted that Mercedes will still have an advantage over other teams.

"I think the situation will be relatively similar in qualifying," he said.

"I don't hope we're at their level as it is now.

"Of course, we'll be closer – we did a lot of things in Melbourne that we hadn't optimized yet, and there was a lot of lost time in the corners.

"But we're clearly not at their level yet.

"In the race, I think it will be closer.