Charles Leclerc is expecting a tough end to the 2025 season as he conceded Ferrari hasn’t discovered the “solution” with the team’s car that its Formula 1 rivals have.
Ferrari’s torrid run since the summer break continued last weekend in Singapore as brake trouble limited Leclerc to sixth, with Lewis Hamilton limping home in eighth.
The Italian marque had shown promising signs before the shutdown, with Leclerc taking four podiums in seven races and a pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
But while the gap to McLaren has remained consistent in the rounds since then, Mercedes and Red Bull have overhauled Ferrari with improvements to their packages.
That culminated in Max Verstappen clinching successive victories in Monza and Baku, while Mercedes, through George Russell, dominated proceedings in Singapore.
“I was surprised at the beginning of the season, then you start to work to try and find solutions to that, and we did,” Leclerc said.
“We did steps forward but the others did as well so the gaps stayed kind of the same.
“Then Red Bull did two steps in the season, first half and then in Monza more recently, where they did a really big step forward.
“And now Mercedes seems to have done this step forward and we are the only one that didn’t find that solution.”
Leclerc expects winless Ferrari campaign
With the team’s attention on the upcoming rule changes in 2025, Leclerc suspects Ferrari will struggle to avoid enduring a winless campaign across the last six races.
“It’s very tough,” the Monegasque expressed. “We are not strong at the moment and we are struggling massively with the car. It’s not easy.
“I wish I could say that I’m positive for the rest of the season [but] I don’t think there’s anything in the car at the moment that proves that we are going to do a step forward.
“I think this is the reality of our situation at the moment.
“I don’t quite know how to turn that situation around because we don’t have new parts or anything coming to the car.”
Hamilton pinpoints Ferrari weakness versus leading rivals
Hamilton has concurred with his team-mate’s assessment on Ferrari’s regression relative to the competition, citing an unstable rear end as a limitation with the SF-25.
“We’re currently really limited with rear end, compared to the guys that are clearly taking the step and improved their rear, Mercedes and McLaren and Red Bull,” he said.
“The guys are pushing so hard each weekend.
“I feel pain for all the team, from catering to marketing to the guys in the garage and engineers who show up every weekend and they really do give absolutely everything.
“But the car we have is just not, unfortunately, at the level of the guys up ahead of us. Particularly as they’ve had some upgrades and we can’t match them.
“So we’re on a knife-edge trying to get as close as we can.”
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