Charles Leclerc says the Ferrari SF-26 not the most enjoyable car he's driven

The new cars are powered by a new power unit made up of a V6 turbo internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electrical component. Both components deliver power on an equal basis.

That means driving the 2026 F1 machines will require a lot of managing of the battery and how to use it instead of simply putting your foot down.

After a decent day of testing on Thursday, Leclerc gave his verdict on the new generation of F1 cars.

He said: "Let's say it's not the most enjoyable race car I've driven so far, but we are still in a moment where the project is relatively new.

"My hope relies in the fact that it will evolve quite a bit in the next few months, but I think it's no secret that I think the regulations for next year is going to be probably less enjoyable to drive. So yeah, I'm not a big fan of it for now," he explained.

Trying to look at the glass half-full, the Monegasque went on: "It's super interesting. It's the first day for me in the car in normal conditions, so a lot to learn, a lot to discover and it's a very different car to what we've been driving since I arrived in Formula 1.

"I take that as a challenge and I actually quite like that everything is new and then there might be an opportunity for us drivers to think outside the box.

"I definitely feel more and more comfortable," he added. "It remains an F1 car as well in a way, it's not like I was completely lost when I got back into the car and I was at ease quite quickly.

"With these new systems and obviously with 50% of the power that comes from the electrical engine, it makes it quite a bit more challenging to manage that, so the learning curve is quite steep. But it's very interesting."

Ferrari have shown decent reliability so far in the Barcelona test, but in terms of performance and competitiveness, Leclerc admits it's too soon to judge.

He said: "In terms of performance, I have no idea where we are and it's just a huge question mark.

"There's nothing that tells me, 'okay, we are more or less here or here'. But in terms of checklists of the things we wanted to go through, we kind of are on time with our programme, so that's good.

"The checklist is massive, still, so there are still many, many things that we want to test and try differently, whether it's some set-up on the car, some different things or some approaches that we have with this new system," Leclerc concluded. (Source: F1 TV)