Charles Leclerc has revealed that medium and high-speed corners are the areas where Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 car needs to be more competitive to trouble McLaren.
The expectation going into the campaign was that Ferrari would build upon the late surge that saw it involved in a last-race title decider in 2024 to be in the mix again.
However, that hasn’t materialised as the Italian marque is down in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship two races into the season, 61 points behind McLaren.
But while the squad’s scant points total can be attributed to poor execution in Australia and a double disqualification in China, Ferrari’s speed has also underwhelmed.
Ferrari’s SF-25 creation has shown occasional promise as Leclerc headed the times in FP2 in Melbourne while Lewis Hamilton was triumphant in the Shanghai Sprint.
The Maranello-based squad has been unable to produce that potential consistently, though, triggering more variable swings in competitiveness compared to its rivals.
Leclerc has suggested that Ferrari’s improvement in high speed compared to the SF-25’s predecessor could have come at a cost to the side’s performance elsewhere.
“Honestly, it’s never really one thing,” Leclerc explained.
“If we look at qualifying in Melbourne, they were very, very strong compared to us in the last sector, which could be about tyres maybe more than anything.
“But then if you look at the race, it’s completely different and it’s just overall performance where we were just lacking speed, whether it’s low or high speed or degradation.
“It was basically all in one. I know and I think we know where we need to push in terms of performance for this car.
“The high speed, I think we did a big step forward. Low and medium speed seems to be the area where we need to work on a little bit more for now.”
Leclerc rues damage in Chinese GP
Leclerc overcame his struggles during the China weekend to emerge as the quickest Ferrari in the race, despite contact with Hamilton leaving him one endplate short.
The Monegasque, who was classified in fifth position prior to his later exclusion, pondered what could have been without the damage he incurred on the opening tour.
“I think we were generally quick,” Leclerc assessed. “We’ve seen it yesterday [in the Sprint] with Lewis.
“We saw it towards the end of the stint where I was very strong. All in all, I think we had a really good race car.
“Today I did a step with the car and I think that made it a lot better also for today. I felt there was a lot more potential.
“I was destroying the fronts and 30 points less downforce is a huge amount. I do not expect a car to be faster like that. Otherwise, we have a problem.”
READ MORE – Why Charles Leclerc refused to change damaged Ferrari front wing despite ‘big loss’ in China
