Charles Leclerc has warned that Ferrari’s prospects won’t improve in the short term as he endured an isolated run to fourth place in Formula 1‘s Japanese Grand Prix.
Leclerc was consigned to trailing home in the position that he started the race as he was unable to match Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the McLaren duo at Suzuka.
The Monegasque had remained within touching distance through the opening stint, but he crossed the line more than 16 seconds behind eventual winner Verstappen.
Leclerc admitted he retained hope that a podium could be attainable until Ferrari’s pace disadvantage compared to its rivals once the fuel load is lighter was exposed.
And while he was content that Ferrari maximised the result unlike the opening two race weekends, Leclerc was demoralised about the team’s overall competitiveness.
“It was a bit of an annoying race, on my one, I was completely on my own,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“The guys in front were too quick. In the first stint I thought maybe there was something to do, but then they started to push more and they were just faster.
“It’s disappointing because when you put everything together like we’ve done this weekend, I think the balance was in the right place, there’s just not enough performance in the car.
“For now, we’ve just got to maximise the points, which is what we have done, and I hope that later on in the season we can fight for better.”
Ferrari losing ‘a bit everywhere’ to McLaren
Leclerc revealed Ferrari was hemorrhaging lap time to the McLarens ahead across the lap, but he suspects the biggest loss was coming through the sweeping Esses.
Asked where McLaren is gaining the most on Ferrari, Leclerc responded: “A bit everywhere. Maybe if anything the first sector was a little bit weaker.
“But that’s only by eye which can be a little bit confusing sometimes in the car.
“Because with the speed you have this yo-yo effect as well that is difficult to take everything out of it, because they were still quite far, like two seconds ahead.
“But my feeling was that we weren’t particularly good in the first sector.”
Leclerc’s Suzuka breakthrough
Leclerc remained the standout Ferrari driver over team-mate Lewis Hamilton, having divulged that a new set-up direction had placed him more at ease with the SF-25.
The eight-time F1 race winner explained that the avenue he explored was an “extreme” one that will allow him to unlock the car’s potential on a more consistent basis.
“I think I learned plenty about the car this weekend, so that is the positive of the weekend really,” he elaborated.
“As much as we are disappointed with the fourth place, we should be happy of us maximising the result and we should be happy about all the lessons learned this weekend.
“As I said, Friday I think was a really, really good day for that. I really went in quite extreme directions in an idea that I’ve had since two or three weeks.
“I wanted to try it and it worked out, so I was really happy with that.”
Put to him that is one positive, he said: “Yeah, but again it doesn’t really make me happy, that’s really not the target, but, at least as I said, we’ve maximised the result.”
Leclerc, though, has cautioned not to anticipate a drastic improvement from Ferrari until the planned developments in the pipeline are introduced to the team’s SF-25.
“I think this is the pace,” he concluded. “Honestly, what we’ve shown is that there’s not much more in the car, so I think that’s where we are.”
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc casts ‘not good enough’ verdict on Ferrari’s 2025 performance
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