On paper, the answer is obvious. Mercedes leads the constructors\u2019 championship, has the leading driver in Kimi Antonelli, and has won four of the five races contested so far in 2026. But momentum in Formula 1 is more textured than standings alone, and heading into Monaco, Ferrari has reasons to feel genuinely optimistic in a way that would have been hard to predict a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
In the constructors\u2019 standings after Canada, Mercedes leads Ferrari by 72 points. But the Canadian Grand Prix weekend told a more complicated story. Ferrari came away with Hamilton\u2019s P2, a result that signals the SF-26 is finding its feet under the new regulations. At the same time, George Russell\u2019s retirement gifted Antonelli a win he might otherwise have had to fight harder for. That mechanical failure flatters the gap slightly.<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc finished fourth in Canada despite a late half-spin, with Ferrari moving ahead of McLaren into second in the constructors\u2019 championship. That jump over McLaren is not insignificant. It means Ferrari is solidly the second-best team in the field right now, even if Mercedes remains a level ahead.<\/p>\n
Monaco complicates things further. Ferrari set an eye-catching pace in practice at Monaco, with Leclerc finishing fastest and Hamilton third as the Scuderia topped the timesheets in the second practice session. On the streets of the principality, where mechanical grip and low-speed balance matter more than straight-line power, Ferrari\u2019s characteristics could suit the circuit better than Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Leclerc at Monaco is always a different proposition to Leclerc anywhere else. He won there in 2024, knows every centimetre of the circuit from childhood, and carries a level of commitment through the barriers that separates him from almost everyone else in the field around that particular track.<\/p>\n
Mercedes has the numbers. Ferrari has the narrative. And in Monaco, circuits do not care about points tally. They care about who has the confidence to push closest to the wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On paper, the answer is obvious. Mercedes leads the constructors\u2019 championship, has the leading driver in Kimi Antonelli, and has\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":52957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4671,4670,9],"tags":[5654,5651,5676,5677,5674,5679,5645,5678,5675,5680],"class_list":["post-52938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-constructors","category-driver-standings","category-formula-1","tag-charles-leclerc-monaco","tag-f1-2026-season","tag-f1-constructors-championship","tag-ferrari-2026","tag-ferrari-vs-mercedes-2026","tag-formula-1-momentum","tag-lewis-hamilton-ferrari","tag-mercedes-f1-2026","tag-monaco-gp","tag-monaco-grand-prix-preview"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52967,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52938\/revisions\/52967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}