FERRARI SLOW ON STRAIGHTS, STRUGGLING IN CORNERS: ‘ONE OF THE WORST FEELINGS’ FOR CHARLES LECLERC

Ferrari's Brazilian GP got off to a miserable start Friday, with Charles Leclerc calling the SF-26's handling "one of the worst feelings of the season." The Monegasque qualified that rare admission: slow on the straights was expected, but the car was also a disaster in corners, where the Scuderia typically dominates. He and Lewis Hamilton finished FP2 sixth and seventh, nearly three-quarters of a second off Kimi Antonelli's pace-setting Mercedes.

Leclerc didn't run FP1 after handing his seat to junior Dino Beganovic, and acknowledged "quite big" issues that will require significant overnight changes. Team principal Fred Vasseur pointed to deployment gremlins that cost tenths on the straights and a balance that left both drivers unhappy, though he sounded less alarmed than his driver. Ferrari can't afford another off weekend — the constructor's fight with McLaren tightens with every points swing, and Interlagos was supposed to suit the red cars. Saturday will tell whether this was a setup miss or something worse.