Charles Leclerc has set his sights on joining Lewis Hamilton at the front after Ferrari’s breakthrough victory in Barcelona, admitting he needs to be “up there” with his team-mate after a weekend to forget ended in retirement

But even before his retirement, Leclerc never looked to have the pace to challenge for a podium finish, never mind the win.

Charles Leclerc targets podium return after Barcelona retirement

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Leclerc arrived at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya looking to put his Monaco Grand Prix disappointment behind him after a brake problem saw him crash out of his home race.

His efforts were undone by a crash in Q3 when a mistake at Turn 4 on his very first flying lap ended with his SF-26 nose-first in the barrier.

The Monegasque’s recovery began well on Sunday as he made up three places off the line to run P7. He overtook Oscar Piastri around the outside of Turn 3 on Lap 8 to run sixth, but that’s where his progress stalled.

While an early second pit stop for Hamilton saw him take the lead when George Russell and Kimi Antonelli pitted, the timing of a Virtual Safety Car when Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin suffered a battery failure handed the Ferrari driver a free third pit stop.

Hamilton went on a charge, pulling clear of the Mercedes teammates, while Leclerc ran behind Max Verstappen in sixth place and looking unlikely to challenge for the podium.

Any suggestion of that ended when his Ferrari SF-26 developed a late-race power steering problem, with the driver heading into the pits to retire his car.

Leclerc reckons while the VSC was a boon for Hamilton, even if Ferrari had also pitted him, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference to his race.

“I lost the power steering,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media, revealing he had “no gears and no brakes as well.

“Then with the VSC, I don’t know if it will have changed significantly our race. But the two stops was a bit of a mistake on my side. I think the three stops were a bit better.

“It wouldn’t have changed massively; the biggest problem was starting P10, and that was on me.

“Then obviously the technical problem at the end.”

The result was a tale of two Ferraris, Leclerc’s Sunday ending in the garage and Hamilton’s on the top step of the podium.

Leclerc was happy for his teammate, who has been on the podium in every one of the last three grands prix, and says it’s about time he joined him.

“I mean, it’s great for the team, it’s great for Lewis,” he said.

“The team has been pushing massively to bring upgrades, and it seems to be working fine, so now I’ve got to be with him up there, which hasn’t been the case in Canada.”

He added: “Fred [Vasseur] deserves it as much as the whole team has been working massively hard. I’m very happy for them, but surely the main feeling I’ll have getting home is disappointment, because it’s been a very difficult weekend.”

There is, however, one positive for Leclerc – his brakes.

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The driver switched from Brembo pads to Carbone Industries brake pads and discs and revealed it did help a bit.

“It’s a bit better,” he said. “I mean it’s better.

“This weekend has been better, generally, but obviously with what happened yesterday, I just need to reset and come back in Austria and hopefully put everything together.

“I’ve lost significant points on my side, so I’ve got to do a pretty exceptional job from next race to the end with the upgrades coming our side.

“And yeah, we’ll see.”

Leclerc lost ground to Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship with his teammate P2 on 115 while Leclerc has just 75 to his name. Kimi Antonelli, who retired on the same lap was Leclerc, continues to lead with 156 points.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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