Charles Leclerc has expressed concern that the problem that unravelled his Hungarian Grand Prix cost Ferrari the team’s sole chance to win a Formula 1 race in 2025.
Leclerc was in contention to prevail at the Hungaroring until a sudden issue with his chassis thwarted his advances and saw him collapse to an eventual fourth place.
Having pulled out a spectacular lap to edge the McLaren drivers to an unexpected pole position, Leclerc headed proceedings through to his second pitstop on Lap 41.
But while he endeavoured to catch the one-stopping Lando Norris ahead, Leclerc’s lap times ballooned, and he later dropped behind Oscar Piastri and George Russell.
Leclerc conceded that his plight was even more bitter as he suspects that Ferrari’s opportunities to avoid a winless season will be limited amid McLaren’s dominance.
Asked whether he believes he could have beaten the McLarens without the issue, Leclerc replied to media including Motorsport Week: “I’m not sure. I don’t think so.
“I think they are the strongest team out there. Even today, they were very, very fast.
“I think on a track like this, what gave me hope of winning is that we were starting first. With the dirty air, it’s a struggle to get past.
“I think Oscar probably had a bit more pace than me, but he couldn’t overtake.
“I don’t think we are getting into the second half of the season thinking that we can win anywhere.
“That’s what makes the frustration even bigger, because we knew that this was one opportunity, probably over the season, and we had to take it.
“But unfortunately, with this issue, we couldn’t do much.”
Vasseur sees positives to Ferrari’s Hungarian GP
However, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is more sanguine about the team’s prospects over the remaining 10 races amid an upturn in competitiveness with recent updates.
“I don’t have the crystal ball, but if you have a look [at] Spa, we were back, we were two tenths off in the race,” the Frenchman highlighted.
“This weekend we did the pole position, we were able to stay in front [for] 40 laps. We can see also a lot of positive.
“For sure the picture at the end is not the good one. We have a lot of frustration, but we can also take the positives of the last weekend.
“We did, I think, a good upgrade on the car, the performance is back, and we don’t have to draw a conclusion on the last stint [in Hungary].”
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc tips Lewis Hamilton’s dire F1 Hungarian GP weekend to be an outlier
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