Charles Leclerc risks everything for fifth: “Today was all or nothing – finish or crash”. Charles Leclerc pushed his Ferrari SF-25 to the limit in Yas Marina qualifying.

F1 | Leclerc: “For me today it was about finishing the lap or ending up in the wall. I gave everything”

Charles Leclerc did not go beyond fifth place in qualifying at Yas Marina, but he took big risks on both of his Q3 laps. Now the Monegasque driver hopes that the radical setup changes made after Free Practice 2 will also work for the race.

The fear of another disastrous weekend like the one seen seven days ago in Qatar was very high, but Charles Leclerc put everything he had into honouring the final qualifying session of the 2025 Formula 1 season and bringing Ferrari at least into the Top 5.

The Monegasque, thanks to two laps in which he left nothing unused on the SF-25, managed to secure fifth place, even if he remained half a second off the time that gave pole position to Max Verstappen. It was a result that was hard to predict for Charles, especially after a Q2 where the number 16 Ferrari seemed to be driving on a gravel stage rather than a Formula 1 circuit.

“The car was very difficult today, especially in Q2 it was really complicated to manage and to finish a lap, but I managed it and I went into Q3,” Charles said at the end of qualifying in Yas Marina.

“I was satisfied, but it’s really painful to be satisfied with a fifth place. The situation, however, is what it is. And the only satisfaction we can take is when we manage to maximise the package we have, and that is exactly what we did today. But fifth place is disappointing.”

Yesterday’s FP2 convinced Ferrari to radically change the setup of Leclerc’s car. These changes seem to have delivered the expected results at least over a single lap. Now the big question mark is what he will be able to do in the race.

“I completely changed the car between Free Practice 2 and Free Practice 3 and I felt small improvements, but I couldn’t really see major improvements. In qualifying I was very, very happy with my two laps in Q3. I really gave everything and it was truly a matter of finishing the lap or finishing in the wall. Fortunately I finished the lap and I’m very happy it went that way. There was nothing more to extract from the car today.”

“I don’t know what to expect from the race pace, it seems like everyone is very fast in that regard. We were not fast in Free Practice 2, but we changed the car a lot after FP2 and I still hope I have improved it for the race as well. But only time will tell. The car will be a bit harder to drive, but I also think it is faster. I just hope the car will be good to drive for the whole race.”

To conclude, Charles also commented on Ferrari’s decision to end development of the SF-25 earlier than planned in order to focus on preparing the 2026 car.

“I don’t want to speak too early. I want to wait for next year’s first qualifying before making certain kinds of statements. But we made certain sacrifices, we sacrificed part of this season to be better prepared for the next one, and I hope that 2026 can start on the right foot for us.”

Fifth on the grid is the best Ferrari could realistically hope for this weekend. Charles Leclerc made sure they got it – and left every ounce of performance out on the track to do so.