Charles Leclerc drove the wheels off his Ferrari to secure a podium in the Japanese Grand Prix while also dealing with the “cheeky” tactics deployed by George Russell and the Mercedes pit wall in the closing stages of the race.
The afternoon started with a red flash, with Leclerc executing once again a perfect start that catapulted the Monegasque from fourth to second in the blink of an eye.
However, the initial adrenaline of the start soon met the cold reality of McLaren’s sheer velocity. Oscar Piastri, leading the charge for the Woking-based squad, proved to be a ghost Leclerc couldn't quite catch.
Reflecting on the early laps, the Ferrari driver noted the difficulty of keeping pace with the leader.
“I mean, I was happy then, I was obviously focusing on Oscar,” Leclerc explained in the post-race press conference. Yet, the gap began to stretch almost immediately.
“But Oscar was very strong, actually, especially in the first lap. In the first lap, I was very surprised by how much he pulled away,” he added.
As the race settled into a rhythmic grind, Leclerc opted for a patient approach, hoping the aerodynamic benefits of clear track would eventually swing the pendulum back toward the Scuderia.
“After that, I was just trying to be as close as possible to him, but he had a bit more pace,” he said.
“I thought also the free air was making a bit of a difference, so I was just trying to wait for later on in the race, but it didn’t happen.”
Radio games and the Silver Arrows’ bluff
The climax of the drama arrived in the wake of a late-race Safety Car. With the field bunched up, George Russell loomed in the Ferrari’s mirrors like a silver shark. But Mercedes wasn't just relying on horsepower; they were weaponizing communication.
In a bizarre psychological skirmish, Russell’s race engineer began broadcasting tactical instructions that were clearly intended to be intercepted by the Ferrari pit wall.
It was a classic "dummy" play, designed to trick Leclerc into draining his battery or defending in the wrong corner.
“I don’t know, I mean it was quite tight at some point and they were also being quite cheeky,” Leclerc remarked with a grin.
“I think his engineer was telling him things on the radio. My engineer was telling me what his engineer was saying on the radio, but he was doing the opposite.”
The Brackley squad's subtle misinformation campaign created a frantic mental load inside the cockpit.
“That put me under quite a bit of pressure at one point,” Leclerc admitted. “I think they told me, ‘oh he’s being told to use everything on the back straight, or maybe the main straight. Then for four laps in a row, he was doing exactly the opposite.”
2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Race results
Despite the tactical smoke and mirrors, Leclerc’s racing instinct pierced through the noise. While he admitted to a momentary lapse – “I understood it pretty quickly and I could defend, but at one point I got surprised in the last corner,”—he never broke.
He crossed the line to secure a gritty podium finish, proving that while mind games might rattle some, he was playing for keeps.
Summing up the chaotic finale, Leclerc offered a simple verdict on the scrap: “It was quite a fun race.”
With a break on the horizon, Ferrari now turns its eyes toward Miami, looking to turn its hard-fought podiums into the top step of the rostrum.
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