Charles Leclerc hasn’t minced words about Ferrari’s lackluster start to the season, plainly stating that their performance falls short of McLaren’s lead. As the 2025 Formula 1 season kicked off, the buzz was that Ferrari would once again contend with McLaren for the constructors’ title, just as they had the year before.
However, Ferrari’s performance has been underwhelming right from the get-go. After a tough outing in Australia, the team experienced a mixed bag at the Chinese Grand Prix. Many believe that the SF-25 has the potential, but the challenge lies in harnessing that power for Leclerc and his new teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc himself has been quick to shoot down this line of thinking.
“It’s as challenging as ever,” he shared with the media, including outlets like RacingNews365. “It’s not any more difficult this year – the issue isn’t about finding the performance. Compared to McLaren, it’s simply not enough right now. But I’m optimistic that we can gradually bridge that gap, hopefully starting this weekend.”
While expressing hopes that Ferrari will step up during the weekend of the Japanese Grand Prix, Leclerc remains pragmatic. He anticipates their performance to be on par with previous rounds, implying that Hamilton’s win in the sprint race at Shanghai was more of a one-off success.
“We made significant progress on Saturday, particularly during the Sprint race with Lewis,” he elaborated. “But by Sunday, things were back to routine. I foresee us performing at the same level we did in China on Sunday and in Melbourne.”
With just two out of the 24 rounds completed, Ferrari has already found themselves 61 points behind McLaren. Even without the disqualifications that knocked Leclerc and Hamilton from fifth and sixth places in China, they would still lag by 43 points.
The weekend in Shanghai brought unexpected setbacks, further dampening what had initially looked promising, especially after Hamilton’s sprint win seemed to indicate an improvement from Melbourne’s struggles. Though the Ferraris breached the regulations for different reasons, Leclerc isn’t too concerned about similar infractions recurring.
“I’m confident that we learn from our mistakes, especially when they come at such a high cost,” noted Leclerc, who has eight grand prix victories under his belt.
“Everyone pushes the limits and tries to get as close as possible. But having both cars fall short was a real blow. We didn’t need that.”
Reflecting on their rocky start, the 27-year-old emphasized how detrimental the initial rounds have been for the team.
“It’s been a tough start to the season,” he admitted. “The first couple of races didn’t meet our expectations in terms of pace, and losing more points than necessary pains the team.”
Leclerc remains hopeful that lessons have been learned. “Whenever issues like these arise, we make it a point to analyze and rectify what went wrong. It was a multitude of factors, and our margin for error wasn’t enough.”
