Jenson Button openly criticised the race strategy chosen by Scuderia Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc at the 2025 British Grand Prix, held at the Silverstone Circuit. The former Formula 1 World Champion then offered a sarcastic piece of advice to the rest of the grid, suggesting they do the opposite of what Leclerc decides during such conditions.
For Charles Leclerc, it was a race to forget at Silverstone, one that the Ferrari driver himself later described as “one of the worst of my entire career.” The turning point came early on, when a strategic error compromised his chances of securing a strong result and effectively ruined his race.
Driving car number 16 for Scuderia Ferrari, Charles Leclerc made the call to return to the pit lane—alongside other drivers, including both Mercedes-AMG Petronas drivers—to switch from intermediate tyres to slicks. However, this decision would ultimately prove to be disastrous, pushing him out of the points and leaving him battling just to break back into the top ten.
After a phase of the race affected by heavy rain and intermediate tyres, the Maranello team decided to put Leclerc back on slick tyres for the final stint. This turned out to be another misstep. The Ferrari SF-25 proved unstable and slippery on a still-damp surface, resulting in Leclerc going off track. He even had a contact incident with his former Ferrari teammate, Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, who now competes for the Williams Racing team.
In the end, Charles Leclerc finished the 2025 British Grand Prix in fourteenth position—a result far below expectations, especially in comparison to British driver Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the finish line in fourth place in front of his home crowd at Silverstone.
Former Formula 1 driver and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button, now a pundit for Sky Sports F1, made a biting comment about the Monegasque driver’s race strategy during the post-race coverage of the Silverstone event. In a sarcastic tone, Button gave what he called a “helpful” recommendation to the rest of the field:
“It seems that when you’re facing a difficult race like this one, you’re better off just doing the opposite of what Charles Leclerc does,” Jenson Button joked live on Sky Sports F1. “Strategy has never really been a strong point for him—or for his race engineer, or whoever is behind those calls. They always seem to come out worse in these tricky conditions.”
Charles Leclerc’s frustration after another difficult weekend
“It felt like we were in no-man’s-land for the entire race,” Charles Leclerc told the media after stepping out of his SF-25 at the end of the British Grand Prix. “And when I say that, I mean it literally—I was completely isolated out there. I was a full second behind and, on top of that, I was really struggling just to keep the car on the track. It was an incredibly tough day. I need to review everything that happened and understand why.”
The 26-year-old Ferrari driver admitted that the decision to switch to slick tyres during the formation lap phase was entirely his own responsibility, adding: “It was my call, and I’m not happy with it.”
Once again, Charles Leclerc and the Scuderia Ferrari team saw a potentially valuable race weekend slip through their fingers due to questionable strategy choices, further fuelling debate around Ferrari’s ongoing struggles with in-race decision-making. As rivals like McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull Racing continue to capitalize on split-second calls, Ferrari and Leclerc seem trapped in a pattern of costly misjudgements, particularly when weather conditions complicate strategy planning.
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