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Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claimed that the Italian team should not give up on title aspirations after the first five rounds of the 2025 season. The Monegasque driver has been performing at a high level for quite some years, but has failed to win more than three races in a year.
There were a lot of expectations on the Italian team due to their strong end to the 2024 season, and they were among the favorites for the title. However, the SF-25 has underdelivered thus far and sits in P4 in the Constructors' Championship. Charles Leclerc has extracted the maximum out of the car in the last three races, but only has one podium to show for it.
With the new engine regulations coming in 2026, the eight-time F1 race winner believes that the Prancing Horses have not "missed" a chance for the title this year, and pleaded his case to not shift their focus to next year yet, saying to RacingNews365:
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“For it to be a missed opportunity, there needs to be an opportunity at one point. For now, we haven't been at the level where we want to be from the beginning of the season. It’s still a long season, and we shouldn't give up. We are going to push until the very end.
“But I think one can go with the other as well. We very often say, ‘let's switch to next year's car straight away’. These kind of things, more and more with the new structures in F1, they can go parallel to one another. I don’t think you can be extreme in one way or the other.”
Charles Leclerc has scored 47 out of Ferrari's 78 points from the first five races and one Sprint thus far, with his teammate Lewis Hamilton contributing 31 points to the total.
Charles Leclerc comments on SF-25's struggles this year
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that he was missing grip from the SF-25 despite getting the car in a 'sweet spot' to operate.
As per Crash.net, the 27-year-old reflected on the issues of the 2025 challenger and said:
"Very tricky on corner entry, quite a mid of mid-corner understeer. We are starting to find solutions for the mid-corner understeer, but it means we’ve got to drive with a trickier car. This is something I particularly like. In terms of balance, we are in the sweet spot of the car. What we are missing is grip at low and medium speed. At high speed, it’s not bad,” Leclerc said.
Ferrari had already brought an upgraded floor to the Bahrain GP with a bigger raft of new parts coming in Imola next month. Charles Leclerc and the Italian team need a quick turnaround to their 2025 title aspirations as races continue to tick by.
