Charles Leclerc on Ferrari development: “We are looking for solutions that no other team has”. Charles Leclerc has opened up about Ferrari’s development struggles and McLaren’s advantage.

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari’s challenge against McLaren development

The Formula 1 season resumes after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix, and for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari the mission is clear: defend second place in the Constructors’ Championship. Despite a series of recent upgrades, the Scuderia still has work to do to fully optimize the package. At this stage of the season, the championship momentum seems to be in McLaren’s hands, but at Maranello the engineers and drivers are still working to understand the reasons behind the British team’s sudden dominance.

One of the main talking points has been the rear suspension upgrade introduced by Ferrari. Although it has provided some improvements when combined with the new floor that debuted in earlier races, the gains have not been as significant as expected. This suggests that the underlying issues with the SF-25 might be more complex and difficult to resolve. With most of the paddock already switching focus to the radical 2026 regulations, Ferrari is left to maximize what it currently has available.

The determination to improve the SF-25

During media sessions ahead of Zandvoort, Charles Leclerc was asked about Ferrari’s commitment to understanding why the McLaren MCL39 has become such a strong competitor. The Woking-based squad has found solutions that few in the paddock can fully understand, and in the final year of the current regulation cycle, their level of dominance has surprised many observers.

Charles Leclerc explained: “The paddock is a very small world, and obviously there are mechanics and engineers moving between teams. That gives you a direction to start from, and you can begin to think about how to reach that same level. But our job is to be the first to steer development into something that has not yet been done. If you are simply chasing, then you can only ever be second-best.”

The Monegasque driver revealed that Ferrari is not overly focused on reverse-engineering what McLaren has done, but rather on leading with their own innovations: “When, at the end of a car cycle, one team makes a step forward like McLaren, naturally everyone tries to understand what has happened and what they have found to become so competitive. Of course we think about it, but our real focus is on trying to lead development by finding solutions that nobody else has.”

Looking towards 2025 and beyond

Leclerc’s comments highlight Ferrari’s long-term approach. The reality is that for the 2025 Formula 1 season there will not be major resources or time allocated to fixing fundamental flaws in the SF-25 project. Instead, the team will aim to extract the maximum possible performance from the current package and focus on race execution to secure the best results. As team principal Frédéric Vasseur has often stressed, the key to success lies in executing weekends cleanly, capitalizing on every opportunity, and bringing home the maximum points available.

For Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, the battle is therefore twofold: defend second place in the championship against rivals Mercedes, while at the same time planting the seeds for future competitiveness under the upcoming regulations. Whether the Scuderia can discover that “solution nobody else has” remains to be seen, but the determination to innovate rather than imitate remains central to their philosophy.