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Leclerc praises Vasseur after recovery to fourth at Sepang

Charles Leclerc praised Fred Vasseur and said Ferrari was united after recovering from last to fourth at Sepang. He also said recent headlines had been unpleasant and hoped the race might quiet some rumours about the team, GPBeat reports.

GPBeat · Newsroom04 Oct 2026, 22:44 · 1 min

Charles Leclerc praised Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur after recovering from last place to fourth at Sepang in the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. He said Vasseur was doing everything to bring Ferrari back to the top and described the team as united.

Ferrari started both cars on soft tyres while the track was still too wet; both fell back as cars on intermediates passed them. Contact with Nico Hulkenberg left Leclerc with a puncture and front-wing damage. A slow stop to change the wing and fit intermediates left him last.

Leclerc said recent headlines had not been pleasant and hoped the race might quiet some rumours about the team, which he described as silly.

Leclerc said Ferrari had plenty to learn from the conditions. Vasseur said the starting-tyre choice was difficult, the team lacked a full picture of the track and got the call wrong. He said Ferrari made the right decisions afterwards and its strategy worked as intended.

Sources 02
  1. PRIMARY SOURCELeclerc relieved with P4 after everything went ‘wrong’ in SepangFormula 1
  2. PRIMARY SOURCEWhat the teams said – Race day in MalaysiaFormula 1
Claims and supporting evidence 8
Leclerc recovered from last place to finish fourth at Sepang during the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The Leclerc report gives his recovery and result; the team roundup identifies the event at Sepang.

[1][2]
Leclerc praised Vasseur's efforts to bring Ferrari back to the top.

Formula 1 records this as Leclerc's post-race statement.

[1]
Leclerc described Ferrari as united.

Formula 1 records this as Leclerc's statement.

[1]
Ferrari started both cars on soft tyres while the track was still too wet, and both fell back as intermediate runners passed.

The race report describes Ferrari's opening tyre choice and the cars losing places to intermediate runners.

[1]
Contact with Hulkenberg left Leclerc with a puncture and front-wing damage, and a slow stop left him last.

The race report describes the damage and the stop that dropped Leclerc to last.

[1]
Leclerc said recent headlines had not been pleasant and hoped the race might quiet some rumours about the team, which he described as silly.

These are Leclerc's attributed post-race comments; the article does not give the rumours a more specific subject.

[1]
Leclerc said Ferrari had lessons to take from the conditions.

Formula 1 records Leclerc saying the team needed to learn and do better in similar conditions.

[1]
Vasseur said the starting-tyre choice was difficult and wrong, but that Ferrari made the right decisions afterwards and its strategy worked as intended.

The team roundup records Vasseur's assessment of the opening call and the subsequent strategy.

[2]

This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.