Abu Dhabi brings an end to the era of “ground-effect” regulations, introduced in 2022. With the curtain closing on this chapter of Formula 1, Charles Leclerc explains what went wrong at Ferrari during these four crucial seasons.
The end of an era always prompts reflection, and Charles Leclerc has responded to one of the toughest questions of all: what exactly went wrong for Ferrari across these last four years? The Maranello-based team had started strongly in 2022, only to hand the crown to Red Bull by mid-season. The 2024 and 2025 campaigns have left a bitter taste, with the team’s only remaining goal being to arrive fully prepared for the start of the 2026 season.
Four seasons of ground-effect cars have produced four turbulent years for Ferrari. The team collected four wins in 2022 (three for Charles Leclerc and one for Carlos Sainz), followed by just a single victory in 2023 (claimed by the Spaniard). In 2024, the tally rose again to five wins (three for the number 16 driver and two for his teammate). The 2025 season has been extremely poor in comparison, bringing home zero victories—one, if we count the Sprint Race in Shanghai won by Lewis Hamilton—and only seven podium finishes.
Something clearly went wrong: Ferrari was never truly in the fight for the World Championship, except as an outside threat toward the end of last season. The factors that contributed to such a decline are numerous and difficult to isolate individually. All hopes—both within the team and among its fans—are now firmly directed toward 2026.
Leclerc: “The others simply did better than we did”
Speaking in the Abu Dhabi press conference, Charles Leclerc tried to shed light on Ferrari’s difficulties: “I don’t think for us there was just one reason, but multiple factors that, at different moments, played a role. At the beginning of 2022, to be honest, we actually started quite strong. However, we suffered from porpoising, while Red Bull had a very stable platform.”
He continued: “This year we focused very early on next season, and I hope it will turn out to be a winning gamble. It definitely affected these last races. But overall, it has simply been a generation of cars that is very, very difficult to understand. I think everyone has been surprised by the fact that when you take the car to the track, there isn’t an exact correlation between what you expected from a certain component and how it behaves. And that was the real challenge. And yes, the other teams did a better job, especially McLaren and Red Bull.” – the Monegasque driver concluded.
With the ground-effect chapter now closed, Ferrari fans will be hoping Charles Leclerc’s frank analysis becomes the foundation for a much stronger 2026 challenge under completely new regulations.
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