Ferrari's Leclerc Stuns Mercedes in Japan

0:00It's April 6th. This is F1 News today, AI Power Stories from Inside Your Team. Ferrari's Formula One team is riding high into the April break after Charles LeClaire snagged third place at the Japan Grand Prix, just beating. Mercedes driver George Russell by half a second. Mercedes has been on fire, with Kimi Antonelli dominating the wins in Australia, China, and now Japan, while Russell grabbed the other podium spot. Here this week in Japan, LeClaire used smart pace and energy management to hold off Russell, especially in those tenths final ten laps. It marked Ferrari's third podium in a row this season, a solid step-up from their Ruff 2025 campaign, even with Mercedes holding a clear edge. Team boss Fred Vassour called it a massive morale boost, praising LeClaire for clever moves like letting Russell lead into the last chicane before. overtaking into turn one. He said it showed the factory crew they can hang with the top dogs, perfect timing before the break.

1:00Now, with a month off due to Middle East tensions, everyone's grinding on upgrades for the Miami race the first weekend of May. Vassour noted they've got tons of data from three races to tweak the car everywhere, from homologation to every performance area. Ferrari's fired up to close that gap, knowing every team's pushing hard, it's all about outworking the competition when wheels hit the track again.