A resurgent Ferrari has won two of the last three Grand Prix and has Mercedes concerned. Speaking after Charles Leclerc’s win in Silverstone, the Mercedes team boss issued a severe warning to his team: “Reliability issues have cost us points, and in a championship this competitive, that is something we cannot afford. There is no value in having the pace if we don’t bring home the result.”
Near Misses and Reliability Woes for Mercedes
At the British Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli had run long on his first set of tyres, pitting late in the race for fresh rubber. He emerged some ten seconds behind leader Charles Leclerc and set about the chase—at times a second a lap quicker than the Ferrari.
Then, just as the young Italian was closing in, a wheel cover came loose and affected his ability to turn the steering wheel properly. Kimi ultimately finished outside the points after a late Safety Car was deployed to cover the crash at Stowe by Max Verstappen.
In Barcelona, Antonelli was running second after recently passing his teammate when, with five laps to go, his engine gave up the ghost. Russell too suffered a DNF while leading the Canadian Grand Prix, costing Mercedes another 25 points in their campaign.
Ferrari’s Low-Risk, Reliable Upgrades Pay Off
Ferrari meanwhile has opted for a different strategy to Mercedes for 2026. Instead of focusing on performance and sorting out reliability problems later, the Scuderia has a very reliable package in the SF-26 and they are bringing small weekly upgrades in their bid to close the gap to Mercedes.
Even better for the Italian squad is that Charles Leclerc declared last time out that he is finally comfortable and confident in this season’s Maranello-built F1 car.
Ferrari has closed the gap to Mercedes to just 78 points, a deficit that once stood at over 100, and there is now a belief in the team that they can take the fight to Mercedes. After the recent British Grand Prix at the most energy-starved circuit of the year in terms of harvesting battery power, the teams head to Spa-Francorchamps, which has even fewer energy recovery opportunities.
Rebuilding Leclerc’s Confidence Post-Monaco
Prior to the race weekend at Silverstone, Ferrari believed the lack of energy would favour the Mercedes engines, which appear to be more efficient with their hybrid systems. Yet it was Ferrari who won the race, and Leclerc’s victory will deliver a boost of confidence to the engineers back in Maranello, claims team boss Fred Vasseur.
“Well, I think the result is the best boost of the confidence that he can have,” the boss of the Scuderia explained. “Also, as we are developing the car from the beginning of the season, we will need to re-adjust the setup each time. Charles, on top of that, he had the change of brakes a couple of races ago, [so] you have to reshape everything a little bit.”
Leclerc has been suffering at the hands of his teammate in recent weeks, having lost the lead over Hamilton following his crash out of the Monaco Grand Prix from third place. The lead grew with Hamilton’s win in Barcelona to 46 points, but Leclerc then switched from Ferrari’s traditional brake supplier Brembo to the Carbon Industries system, which his teammate had adopted earlier in the season.
The Carbon Industries Brake Swap and Post-Race Jibes
Fred Vasseur believes that Leclerc’s win last time out will not only reinvigorate the whole team, but his Monegasque title hopes. He now sits 39 points behind Hamilton, who is a further 32 behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
With Hamilton having run the CI brakes since Japan, Leclerc decided to migrate his setup in Silverstone towards that of his teammate. Hamilton made a mild jibe to that effect in his post-race interviews. But Lewis knows if Charles gets back to his best form, he will have a fight on his hands once again, having enjoyed being the number one Ferrari driver for several weeks.
Vasseur went on to explain how the changes in setup gave Leclerc a boost: “Each step of setup is not making a proper difference in terms of lap time, but sometimes, it’s giving them confidence to push a bit more. And for race pace, it’s crucial. He was very consistent all throughout the race. If you have a look at the first 20 laps, he was within one or two tenths, and he was key for us to be in the fight with Mercedes.”
Wet-Weather Unknowns Await at Spa
It did seem that in the latter stages of the race, Antonelli was more than a couple of tenths quicker than the Ferrari driver; then again, Leclerc had taken his tyres much earlier and was driving to a time to maximise their lifespan. Had the challenge come from the Mercedes driver, who knows how much quicker the Ferrari could have gone, and for Belgium there is confidence in the camp that they are closing in on Mercedes.
The conditions in Spa are expected to be a lot cooler, with sporadic rain interruptions as a feature of the race weekend. The all-new 2026 cars have yet to run in the wet, so there is no pecking order established as to who will be quick in inclement conditions.
Lewis Hamilton could equal Michael Schumacher’s record of six wins at the iconic race track in the Ardennes Forest. Yet it seems not only does he need to conquer the Mercedes pair, but his resurgent teammate too if he is to create history.
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The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
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