Charles Leclerc believes the front wing technical directive for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix could be a turning point for Ferrari.
Aero-elasticity has been a hotly debated topic in F1 for well over 12 months now.
Flexible front and rear wings and their legality were questioned throughout the 2024 campaign, with McLaren perceived as the team pushing boundaries the furthest.
Twice already, the FIA has imposed tighter restrictions on rear wing flexibility in 2025, but front wing restrictions won’t come into effect until the Spanish GP, Round 9 of the current campaign.
McLaren has admitted changes will be made to its class-leading MCL39 machine in time for the Round 9 technical directive, and Leclerc sees this as a potent opportunity as he languishes 52 points behind Drivers’ standings leader Oscar Piastri.
With floor upgrades on the Ferrari SF-25 propelling Leclerc to fourth in Bahrain and the first podium of the season in Saudi Arabia, the Monegasque driver admitted “I think we are behind in terms of actual performance of the car.
“We are behind McLaren and Red Bull, for sure, behind Mercedes I believe also,” Leclerc added.
“On one hand, I’ve gone in the direction that I’ve been speaking of in the last two or three weekends and I feel like I’ve never been as much at ease with the car than I’ve been at the moment. So we are extracting the maximum out of the car.
“We just need a better car. And I think a turning point for the season will be in Barcelona, with a new front wing, I hope it can play a little in our favour.”
Ferrari and Leclerc seek improvements to SF-25
Ferrari hopes to make further improvements to its car with upgrades at Imola, Round 7 of the campaign.
The success of those upgrades could also prove vital, as Leclerc progressed the urgency of improving his fortunes amid ever-decreasing title odds.
“We cannot lose too many races before finding it because we’re already 50 points down in the Drivers’ Championship,” he said.
“We’re not looking at it too much, but 50 points is a big number. I don’t want to be losing more points than that in the next few races.”
The main issue Leclerc hopes to improve is qualifying, where Ferrari has a habit of sacrificing crucial tenths to the likes of McLaren, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and George Russell’s Mercedes.
“If we start further up, we’ll have our chances,” he said.
“If not, we’re all too close in the race to make a difference. We really need to focus and put everything together in qualifying.”
Leclerc hails ‘perfect race’ in Jeddah
Qualifying improvements are essential to Ferrari’s title chances, as Leclerc proved at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the team has incredible race pace.
Extending his opening stint, Leclerc found himself running in free air partway through the Saudi Arabian GP.
The pace he showed there gave him an essential buffer to the hard-charging Lando Norris once the pit stop cycle was complete, and Leclerc hung on to a well-fought podium.
“I think, honestly, we did the perfect race,” he said.
“Today I don’t feel like there was anything more on the table.
“Every lap was really, really good. There were no mistakes. Strategy, perfect. Pit stop, again, perfect: we don’t talk much about our pit stops because whenever they go wrong, we obviously speak about it because you can lose a race with it, but the mechanics are doing an incredible job.
“I think we have been dominating the pit stop battle since the beginning of the season, and that’s thanks to the hard work they’ve done.
“But overall it’s been the perfect race and today I couldn’t do anything more than a P3.”
As has been the case for many years, Ferrari is missing the final pieces of the puzzle to mount a serious title challenge.
Will Spain’s technical directive unlock things in the Scuderia’s favour?
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc highlights weakness Ferrari must solve to salvage 2025 F1 title hopes
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