Charles Leclerc says Max Verstappen’s claim is ‘nonsense’ and that Isack has no clue.
Charles Leclerc called Isack Hadjar’s recent comment about Ferrari “nonsense,” saying the Red Bull driver “has no idea.”
Hadjar had said if Max Verstappen was driving a Ferrari at the Singapore Grand Prix, the four-time champ would’ve “won the race by a bigger margin.” Verstappen took pole position and won both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, beating Leclerc by 7.3 seconds on Sunday.
When asked about Verstappen having a bigger win in Ferrari’s SF-26, Leclerc quickly disagreed.
“First, I think it’s nonsense to say that. Isack doesn’t know what kind of car we have, and I don’t know what kind of car he drives,” Leclerc said.
“This is a really close field, and it’s very hard to predict. Sure, we have an idea how we’ll be at each track, but with such tiny differences, it’s all about making the car as good as possible. That matters more than what we expect from the cars,” he added, questioning Hadjar’s opinion.
Verstappen has won the last two races, and Hadjar admitted Red Bull was strongest in Malaysia. But Hadjar also thinks Ferrari had the fastest car in Singapore.
He said, “In Malaysia, Red Bull was dominant, but I don’t think they were in Singapore. I believe Ferrari was fastest there. If you put Max in the Ferrari, he would have won with a bigger margin. That’s my opinion.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri gave a more balanced view, saying both Ferrari and Red Bull were “definitely stronger than us.”
He said, “It’s no surprise Ferrari were strong in Singapore. Based on the data, they’re always the fastest or among the fastest in most corners this year. But they lose time on straights, maybe because of drag or power — I’m not sure. We thought Ferrari would be the top car at other tracks, but that hasn’t happened.”
“They’re very strong, and Red Bull clearly is too. Both are stronger than us,” Piastri added.
Leclerc then spoke about Mercedes, calling them an “outlier” compared to his take on Hadjar’s comment.
Though it’s “hard to predict” how races will go or how drivers would do in different cars, Leclerc said he expected more from Mercedes lately.
“The only outlier recently is Mercedes. We thought they’d be further ahead than they are,” he said.
“If they unlock the performance we think they can, they’ll be ahead of everyone. Otherwise, it will be very close.”
Heading into the US Grand Prix, Leclerc is fifth in the driver standings with 215 points. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli leads with 340 points, followed by George Russell with 238.
If everything goes the right way at the Circuit of the Americas, Mercedes could secure the championship, and Antonelli might win his first F1 title — especially if Mercedes performs as Leclerc expects.