Charles Leclerc remains confident that Ferrari can provide him with a title-challenging package in Formula 1, despite the setbacks the team has endured this season.
Leclerc had exuded optimism that the late surge that saw Ferrari almost take the Constructors’ Championship in 2024 would see it begin the campaign in contention.
However, Ferrari’s complications with the SF-25, combined with McLaren’s astounding winter improvement, have ensured the side’s title drought is poised to continue.
But although the team is still chasing an elusive win, the Italian marque has recovered to at least be the nearest rival to a dominant McLaren, albeit 299 points behind.
And with all-new regulations promising fresh opportunities in 2026, Leclerc is sanguine when it comes to Ferrari’s budding prospects under Fred Vasseur’s leadership.
“Fred is definitely part of it, but the biggest part is to see how the team works,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week regarding his continued faith in Ferrari.
“I’m sure we are working in the right direction.
“Next year will be a big turning point for us as it will be a new era of cars.
“Whenever you start a new era, if you are not starting it on the right foot, it’s always more difficult to come back because other teams are also pushing for upgrades.
“To close the gap is very difficult. We’ll have to start that on the right foot and then we’ll see.
“For now, I’m fully dedicated to try and make Ferrari great again and to win races again.”
Leclerc has derived encouragement from how Ferrari reacted to the unanticipated issues that arose with mid-season updates to alleviate the SF-25’s core limitations.
“The upgrades go in the right direction of making the life of the drivers a little bit easier because at the beginning of the season, it was extremely difficult,” he recalled.
“We had to set up the car in very extreme ways, and that made us also do more mistakes.
“Now we are a bit more in a reasonable window, which helps us to extract the maximum out of the car. It’s good that we see the result.”
Leclerc pleased with individual performance
Leclerc has continued to impress despite Ferrari’s troubles, scoring the side’s five podiums to date and outracing team-mate Lewis Hamilton on all but two occasions.
“In terms of my own performance, I’m very happy with the way I perform,” the Monegasque admitted. “The best moment as a driver, no, because I want to win.
“So, as my own performance, I’m really happy.
“You always want to improve and obviously, like Silverstone, for example, was a very poor weekend from my side. Those weekends you want to have the least possible in a season.
“Apart from that, I’m very satisfied. That is a good thing.
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