Charles Leclerc finished fourth in the Italian Grand Prix after a strong battle with Oscar Piastri in the opening stages. Ferrari proved slower than the McLarens and Max Verstappen, making it impossible to reach the podium despite an extreme setup.
The impressive result achieved in 2024 could not be repeated. Ferrari concluded their home race outside the podium, with Charles Leclerc finishing fourth, 3.5 seconds behind the third place claimed by Oscar Piastri.
This time, Ferrari did not make any mistakes during the race, and neither did Charles Leclerc. Simply put, Max Verstappen and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were faster than the SF-25s, leaving Ferrari to fight with the Mercedes cars for the position of the third-fastest team on track.
At the end of the Monza Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc confirmed what had already become clear. He and the team gave their maximum effort, but three cars proved faster than his.
“We did not have the pace of the drivers ahead of us. We were slightly faster than the Mercedes cars, but not as much as we expected. We also anticipated higher tire degradation. Even so, we were not fast enough to reach the podium,” Leclerc explained.
After a promising start, Leclerc struggled with overheating rear Medium tires. These first caused him to slide in every corner—also influenced by an extremely low-downforce setup used earlier in the weekend—and then to lose the third position he had gained shortly after the start. Oscar Piastri overtook him on the outside at the first Lesmo corner.
“The first lap was really difficult, I struggled a lot to get the tires up to temperature. I was sliding a lot, and quickly my rear tires overheated. At that point, all I could do was manage that overheating and try to bring the tires back into the correct temperature range. The problem was that we lost a lot of time in that phase,” Charles Leclerc said.
“Piastri did a really good job overtaking me on the outside of the first Lesmo. For the rest of the race, it was just normal battles. It was a real shame to lose so much time at the start, because after that we went well. We were not as fast as the frontrunners, but I could have managed better those behind me and maybe tried something different,” he added.
“No, I don’t think I could have reached the podium. I gave my best, and it would not have been possible unless someone ahead of me made a mistake.”
Ferrari’s weekend had started promisingly, with a 1-2 in the first free practice session. However, all the rivals used more aggressive engine maps, adjusted their setups—or changed them radically, as Max Verstappen did—and closed the gap, eventually overtaking the Scuderia.
“We were fast on Friday, but we knew that in qualifying the others would close in. After qualifying, we returned to reality. Today there was not much more I could have done. We maximized everything. Red Bull performed very well, choosing a particular configuration that seemed to work perfectly for them. McLaren was not as extreme as Red Bull, but they were still faster than us. We were in the middle of nowhere,” Charles Leclerc commented.
“Maybe in Baku we can be competitive in qualifying, but in the race, the true pace will come out. It will certainly be a matter of tire degradation. Baku is a track where I am strong, and everything is possible, but looking at today, we are still far from matching McLaren and Red Bull. I did not have much confidence today, and I think it will be the same in Baku,” he concluded.
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