Charles Leclerc finished third in the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, revealing the Friday work behind Ferrari’s turnaround. After a challenging start to the weekend, a major setup change transformed the Ferrari SF-25, enabling it to reach the podium behind Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The Monegasque driver skipped FP1 to allow Dino Beganovic to take the seat and focused in FP2 solely on data gathering to understand the car’s limits. However, it was the work done overnight between Friday and Saturday that made all the difference.
“We changed a lot on the car,” Charles Leclerc explained to the media. “Obviously, I missed FP1, so FP2 was only to assess where we stood. Then for FP3, we made a big change to arrive competitive.” – the Monegasque driver added.
The result was a Ferrari that was more stable, responsive, and performant from the very first lap on Saturday. “As soon as I got in the car for FP3, I felt it was much better,” he added. “I hadn’t done long runs with this setup, but there were no bad surprises. We did a good job maximizing the potential.”
Thanks to the right setup changes, Ferrari extracted the maximum potential from the car and secured a solid result.
This podium finish injects confidence in a crucial phase of the season, as internal relations within Ferrari are under scrutiny and the team fights to close the gap to McLaren, consolidating second place in the Constructors’ Championship. With the correct package and the car in its ideal window, Charles Leclerc once again proved he can deliver results.
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