Charles Leclerc secured victory at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix from pole position, but both his and Lewis Hamilton’s prospects for success in 2025 are now clouded by an unresolved ‘mystery’ issue troubling Ferrari.
As the 2025 Formula 1 season arrives in Monaco for the second race of the year’s second triple-header, the Briton carries momentum from his best performance so far as a Ferrari driver—a fourth-place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola.
During the recent race at Imola, Charles Leclerc dropped to sixth place in the closing laps after choosing not to pit during the late safety car period. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton capitalized on fresher tyres to close in on Oscar Piastri, ultimately maintaining third place by a narrow 1.4-second margin. Despite this, Hamilton’s P4 marked his best finish with Ferrari to date, especially considering the team’s qualifying struggles that weekend. Both Ferrari drivers failed to advance past Q2, with Hamilton climbing from 12th to 4th and Leclerc moving from 11th to 6th.
A significant concern for Ferrari is the unexpected performance discrepancy between new and used Pirelli tyres, a problem that continues to baffle the Maranello engineers. Reports from Auto Motor und Sport reveal that Ferrari’s technical team ‘do not have the answers’ to why the SF-25 car performs better on used tyres rather than fresh ones. This unexplained issue is limiting the potential race results for both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, particularly impacting their qualifying pace.
This tyre challenge has forced Ferrari’s drivers into recovery mode during races, as seen at Imola, and could prove especially troublesome in Monaco if either driver fails to secure a strong grid position. With the tight and unforgiving nature of the Monaco circuit, qualifying performance is crucial, and Ferrari’s current predicament puts their drivers at a disadvantage.
Looking ahead, Ferrari plans to run Charles Leclerc’s 2024 Monaco-winning rear wing design in this year’s race to reduce development costs for a new high-downforce package. However, the unresolved tyre performance mystery from earlier rounds remains a significant concern heading into Monte Carlo.
The situation is particularly discouraging for the Monegasque driver, who won the Monaco Grand Prix last year from his third career pole at the track. His hopes for consecutive victories at the Principality now seem doubtful due to Ferrari’s ongoing issues, even with the 2025 race featuring two mandatory pit stops.
Ferrari’s struggle to understand and solve the tyre problem has contributed to a deflated atmosphere in Maranello. The team no longer holds strong belief in their chances to contend for either the drivers’ or constructors’ championships this year. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton arrive in Monaco sitting fifth and sixth in the drivers’ standings, trailing McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by 85 and 94 points respectively, underscoring the uphill battle Ferrari faces.
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