Charles Leclerc admits he will be happy if Andrea Kimi Antonelli takes the title at the end of the season. At least: if Ferrari itself no longer has a chance of winning either championship by then. ‘Kimi reminds me of myself when I made my debut,’ the Monegasque says as the reason for his support of the young world championship leader.
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The title fight is far from over with the start of the summer break. Although the first races of the 2026 season were still dominated by Mercedes – with even a streak of five wins in a row for Andrea Kimi Antonelli – the two Ferrari drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, have now both also been able to secure a victory.
As Max Verstappen showed in 2025, in theory no deficit is too big to overcome, but Leclerc still considers that Kimi Antonelli could take the title this year. The Monegasque is at peace with that, he says.
“I’m not thinking about the championship yet. I want to win another race. The hard work I put in is paying off,” Leclerc told Sky Italy. “If Ferrari doesn’t win the title, I would be happy if Kimi won it. He is incredibly enthusiastic – that reminds me of myself when I made my debut.”
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Turnaround at Silverstone
The Monegasque himself is now also competing again at the top of the field, which among other things resulted in his first win of the year at Silverstone. When asked whether his earlier problems in F1 2026 were due to his Ferrari car or the new rules, Leclerc answered: “No, I don’t think it’s the Ferrari itself. I think it has more to do with this generation of cars.”
“I generally have a fairly aggressive driving style,” he continued. “During my career this has been one of my strongest points, but with these cars you sometimes have to be careful that it doesn’t backfire. Then the drop-off is big and you can lose quite a bit of performance.”
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