Charles Leclerc has insisted Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 car is an improvement on its predecessor, but he has professed that the team’s rivals have made a “bigger step”.
Ferrari entered the season tipped to build on the promising conclusion to the previous campaign that saw it contest the Constructors’ Championship to the final race.
However, the Italian marque has endured a tumultuous start to 2025 as the side has experienced severe trouble extracting the SF-25’s potential on a consistent basis.
That has culminated in Ferrari not registering a single podium during the opening three rounds as it lags a gargantuan 76 points behind McLaren in the championship.
Leclerc, who expressed that Ferrari was targeting the title in 2025, has conceded that the struggles in the nascent races have come as a bitter blow to the entire team.
“When you end up the year that we finished last year, where we are in a good momentum with the team, that you know that you’ve got a good car, and obviously the expectations of what you are trying to target, at least as a team, is to at least start from there and try and improve,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“So on that, we were a little bit disappointed to see that we had done a step back at the beginning of this year.
“After this testing, as we said, it’s very difficult to know where you are.
“I felt like we maybe kind of saw straight away that McLaren was very strong on the race stint, but it was to be confirmed.
“Now it’s confirmed, and I hope that we can turn that situation around.”
Ferrari to introduce updates in Bahrain
Leclerc has revealed that Ferrari will have upgrades at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix as it strives to exploit the potential the team is adamant the SF-25 harbours.
“There’s a lot of work in the background, obviously. I think that the last weekend has been more or less where we are as a team, where we stand as a team,” he said.
“We’ve got a few new parts here, which I hope will help us to close that gap a little bit.”
Leclerc insists Ferrari has improved
Ferrari’s arduous beginning to the campaign has prompted scepticism to arise over the decision to commit to an extensive departure from the title-challenging SF-24.
Leclerc, however, has dismissed the notion that Ferrari’s current deficit to its front-running rivals can be attributed to the SF-25 being a downgrade on the previous car.
Put to him that it is more the case that the competition has made greater strides over the winter, Leclerc clarified: “No, you’re right. This is a bad use of words.
“Of course, we’ve taken a step forward. And I’m pretty sure that if we take our 2024 car and our 2025 car, our 2025 car is better than the 2024 [car].
“But the others in relative have taken a bigger step forward than we did.
“We just tried to do a step in everything we could on the car.
“But obviously, it’s not enough when we are seeing where we are compared to the others.
“But again, I hope that what we are bringing this weekend can help us to at least close this gap a bit more and be just a bit more in the fight with the others.”
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc warns Ferrari prospects won’t improve until F1 upgrades
