Charles Leclerc has contended that the progress that McLaren has made to dominate Formula 1 in 2025 has changed the perception surrounding Ferrari’s campaign.
Ferrari entered the season touted to be among the teams in title contention based on the late surge that almost saw it claim the Constructors’ Championship in 2024.
However, the Italian marque has toiled with a capricious SF-25 car and remains winless in the opening 10 races to trail a daunting 191 points behind leaders McLaren.
But although he has all but professed that the team’s protracted title drought is poised to continue, Leclerc has denied that Ferrari has endured a catastrophic season.
Instead, with Ferrari embroiled in a close battle with Mercedes and Red Bull, Leclerc highlighted that it isn’t the only team to have been caught out by McLaren’s gains.
“I think none of us is satisfied of how it’s going at the moment, that’s clear,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“We came into the season thinking that we had chances to challenge McLaren and Red Bull in order to win the championship. That has not been the case so far.
“However, it’s fair also to say that I don’t think many people understood apart from McLaren. They’ve done a huge step forward compared to last year, a lot more than anybody else.
“If we compare ourselves to our other competitors apart from McLaren, it’s not like we are having a shocking season.
“As a matter of fact, this is not good enough. We’re not happy with that, and we need to understand what McLaren found.
“But we also need to be careful about everything that is going around the team because sometimes that, I think, can change the perception of someone’s season.
“I think McLaren is doing an outstanding job. We are absolutely not happy in the situation we are in at the moment.
“However, I feel like we just need to find ourselves as well, just like Mercedes, just like Red Bull, needs to find the outstanding thing that McLaren have found.”
Leclerc denies pressure weighing Ferrari down
Leclerc also dismissed the notion that the heightened scrutiny on Ferrari to deliver has had an adverse impact on the team’s results not living up to expectation again.
“The pressure, we are already putting ourselves under a lot of pressure,” the Monegasque explained.
“Then, of course, there are some talks that it’s not something that you want to hear.
“But the pressure is normal to have it. When you are working for Ferrari, second is never good enough. But we are all aware of it.
“So it’s not like the outside pressure is having any influence on the pressure that we put ourselves first.
“We want to be winning. And as I keep saying, it’s not good enough. But I’m not the only one to say that all the team knows that it’s not good enough and that Ferrari should be winning.
“And that’s what we are putting all our thoughts into, is to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. At the moment, McLaren is a stronger team and it’s up to us to react.
“But yeah, we definitely need to forget everything about what is said around the team. But I think that’s something I got used to with the years.
“Obviously, there are times where you’ve got more rumours to deal with, and mostly with you, because the questions are obviously directed into certain topics
and it’s not always a nice thing to do. But I understand it.
“And at the end of the day, that’s how Ferrari is and has always been. So you’ve got to deal with it. But I don’t think we are affected by it.”
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