The Ferrari driver finished only ninth in the Sprint Qualifying session at Lusail, complaining about being blocked by Carlos Sainz, which may have cost him a slightly better grid position. However, realistically, he admitted that the SF-25 cars are still struggling. Lewis Hamilton’s elimination in SQ1, followed by his very brief comments, further confirmed the team’s difficulties.
Twenty-four Grands Prix are a lot, especially when things are not going the way you expect. And at Ferrari, they would likely have welcomed one or two fewer rounds this season, because the end of 2025 is shaping up to be the lowest point of a campaign that was already extremely complicated. After a difficult weekend in Las Vegas, the SF-25s also found themselves in big trouble on the opening day of the Qatar Grand Prix.
In the only free practice session, Charles Leclerc complained heavily about the power steering on his car and finished only eighth, almost eight tenths off the pace. In Sprint Qualifying, the Monegasque driver managed to reduce the gap to Oscar Piastri’s pole position to just over half a second, but his final result was worse: tomorrow he will have to start the short race of the Lusail weekend from ninth on the grid.
It is a position that could probably have been slightly better had he not encountered the Williams of Carlos Sainz during his final attempt, as being just a tenth faster would have been enough to climb onto the third row. Setting that aside, Charles did not seem satisfied with the speed and behaviour of his car.
“Not the whole session, just the last lap. He was creating a gap to the car in front just before safety car line 2, which created a bit of stress for everyone behind. He had the right to do it, but it’s very annoying and in some cases not even necessary,” Charles Leclerc said when asked about the incident with his former teammate.
“It’s a shame, but I started the lap too close and when you see the gap between us and the top 5, you can say that I could have done a better qualifying. Apart from that, we are very slow and we are struggling once again,” he added.
When asked whether he believed the top five was within reach, he replied: “I’m just a few hundredths, or at most a tenth, from Tsunoda who is fifth, so we had the potential to do it, but on the other hand we are struggling, so for now it has been a difficult weekend.”
Hamilton eliminated in SQ1: he will start only 18th
On the other side of the garage, things went even worse, because for the second consecutive time Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in the first segment of qualifying. After starting 20th in Las Vegas, the seven-time world champion will line up 18th for tomorrow’s Sprint, and he did not show much desire to speak when he appeared for the usual interviews.
“As always,” he said when asked how difficult his Ferrari had been to drive today, adding only one remark: “Something to save? At least the weather is good.”
With only one more race weekend left after Qatar, Ferrari’s 2025 season is in serious danger of ending on its lowest note yet.
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