Charles Leclerc’s radio admission after qualifying: yet another setup change for Ferrari in China?. Ferrari loses pace in qualifying, raising suspicions of a setup change.

It wasn’t as disappointing as in Australia, but once again in Shanghai, Ferrari lost its edge in the battle for pole position at the Chinese GP. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were stuck on the third row after an impressive sprint race, leading to speculation that the Scuderia might have made another setup change.

Shanghai qualifying favored Oscar Piastri and George Russell, who maximized their final attempts to secure a well-earned front row. Meanwhile, Ferrari—despite securing sprint pole—ended up further down the grid. Compared to the sprint qualifying session, the SF-25 lost performance, failing to take the extra step needed to challenge McLaren for pole.

Charles Leclerc’s admission over team radio
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished Q3 in fifth and sixth place, respectively. While the Ferrari appeared to have improved in drivability, it seemed to have lost some outright performance—at least on Charles Leclerc’s side of the garage.

“We lost a bit of competitiveness in qualifying today,” Charles Leclerc admitted over the team radio at the end of Q3. Despite that, he felt more comfortable with the car: “It’s not too bad from my perspective, but overall, we struggled a bit more than the others.” – he pointed out.

Fred Vasseur responds: another Ferrari setup change?
After the troubled Australian GP weekend, some have suggested that Ferrari may have once again altered the SF-25’s setup before qualifying. This was a key topic in Sky Italia’s post-Q3 interview with Fred Vasseur.

The Ferrari team principal avoided giving too many details but let slip some hints. “I won’t talk about this—there would be too many comments! But it’s true, in the sprint race, tire degradation was higher than expected for everyone.”

Ferrari may have adjusted the setup after the sprint race in response to the tire wear seen over the 19-lap event. According to Fred Vasseur, tire management will be the decisive factor in the Grand Prix, rather than outright speed. “Degradation was much worse for some, less for others, but overall, it was significant. The race will be about managing tire wear rather than pure pace.”