Charles Leclerc admits pain after F1 Qatar GP disaster: “2026 focus doesn’t justify this”. Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s early shift to the 2026 project does not explain the team’s disastrous Qatar weekend.

F1 | Charles Leclerc resigned: “Working on the 2026 car doesn’t explain two such negative weekends”

Ferrari endured a weekend to forget in Qatar, a round that also forced the team to say goodbye to its fight for second and third place in the Constructors’ Championship. Charles Leclerc did not hide his disappointment, describing a difficult weekend that, in his view, cannot be explained simply by the team’s early switch of focus to the 2026 car.

The Qatar weekend was one the team will want to archive as quickly as possible, a chapter that both drivers would prefer to erase. Their frustration was clear after the race, as another low-point of a season closed with a disappointing ninth-place finish that extinguished Ferrari’s final hopes in the constructors’ standings.

After the frustrating outing in Lusail, Ferrari will end the championship in fourth place, with Red Bull now completely out of reach after today’s dominant victory. It is a bitter ending to a season far removed from the goals the Scuderia had set. The race itself reflected the wider picture: the SF-25 was never in contention for the top positions, collecting points more due to the mistakes of rivals than through its own competitiveness.

Throughout the entire weekend, both drivers struggled to find the right feeling with the SF-25, unable to build the confidence required to push through Lusail’s fast, sweeping corners. A clear understeer that turned into pronounced oversteer mid-corner made driving extremely complicated. Adding the bouncing phenomenon on top of this made the car feel unpredictable.

In the race, thanks to the reduced pace demands, the issues were slightly less evident — but it was obvious that the limitations of this car were never going to disappear overnight. The lack of confidence resurfaced again today, albeit in a milder form, yet still not enough to change the outcome of a difficult race.

“I had no confidence in the car, I had no pace with the car, I had nothing with the car, so… I’m honestly relieved that the weekend is over. It was a very frustrating race from the very first lap to the last,” Charles Leclerc said after the finish, highlighting just how difficult it was to drive the SF-25.

Already at the start yesterday, the Monegasque had made several errors on the opening lap due to a clear lack of grip from the tyres — a problem that returned again today. “Again, after what happened yesterday on the first lap, I had no confidence and I didn’t know what could happen with the car in the opening laps. There wasn’t a single lap in which we were competitive during the weekend, so it was really very frustrating.”

Ferrari was the first top team to interrupt aerodynamic development this season in order to focus entirely on next year, once it became clear that reaching its initial objectives was no longer realistic. It is a choice that weighs heavily, both in terms of the standings and on morale.

“It hurts me, I’m really sorry. I don’t want to create false expectations, but we also have to say things as they are. At the beginning of the year I was convinced we had done a good job, but the result is that it wasn’t enough. We have to do much more to reach our goals. We are doing a lot, we are working a lot.”

“We’ll see how next year goes. This year we sacrificed the second part of the season to work on next year’s car, so it’s not a big surprise that we are struggling now. What is surprising is being this far behind this weekend, because you cannot explain such a performance with the fact that we started developing the next car. I’m not satisfied and we must find answers.”

There is still one goal left, and it is not linked to the standings but to morale: ending the year with a positive result. According to Fred Vasseur, Abu Dhabi should be more favourable due to the lower load requirements, and repeating the same difficulties seen in Qatar would open the door to an even heavier winter.

“In a way yes, but at the same time I can’t wait to get to Abu Dhabi and try to finish the season on a more positive note, hoping to give ourselves a bit more happiness before the holidays. Because it would be quite depressing to go on holiday after two weekends like this. It would be really very negative, so I hope we can have a better weekend. A podium would be nice, but after this weekend I have very little hope.” – the Monegasque driver concluded ahead of the final round of the 2025 Formula 1 season.