F1 | Ferrari struggles again with SF-25, biggest issues in the third sector
Charles Leclerc finished eighth and Lewis Hamilton 14th, confirming Ferrari’s struggles in the final stretch of the 2025 season. Lewis Hamilton was slightly ahead of Charles Leclerc until the last sector, but the Briton hopes to unlock more of the car’s potential before qualifying. Meanwhile, Leclerc continues to complain about balance issues: “We’re trying everything, but there’s something that has been eluding us for two to three races, and I don’t quite understand what it is.”
Despite the challenges, Ferrari is determined to close the season with a positive note, but the road remains steep. “We’re trying everything,” Leclerc said, “but there’s something that has been eluding us for two to three races, and I don’t really understand what it is. We’re doing everything we can to figure it out, and I hope we can find a solution before tomorrow’s qualifying.”
The margins seen in FP2 are not prohibitive. Leclerc is just over a tenth off second-row pace, but the competitors are new names: Oliver Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, and Bortoleto. It’s difficult to predict what Charles can achieve in qualifying tomorrow, and equally hard to make any forecasts for Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton’s performance remains a question mark. The three-tenth gap that separated him from Leclerc on the flying lap was lost in the last three corners. Before corner 12, Lewis was a tenth faster than his teammate, but in the remaining sector up to the finish line, he lost half a second. Hamilton’s third-sector time (30.612s) is a thousandth faster than Franco Colapinto but seven tenths slower than Lando Norris.
Lewis missed FP1, leaving the car to Arthur Leclerc, which likely had an impact. “I did my best to get back up to speed as quickly as possible,” Lewis Hamilton said. “I had to deal with quite a tricky balance, but I still hope to extract a bit more potential from the car. In the first and second sectors we are there, but when we reach the third sector we struggle. If we can solve this problem tomorrow, we can take a step forward.”
For Charles, the highlight of the day was sharing FP1 with his brother Arthur, playfully nicknamed ‘jr.’ and ‘sr.’ by rival teams on the radio.
“Being on track with my brother is always special,” Leclerc commented, “but unfortunately, that was the only positive note today. The rest was tough, but I really want to finish on a high note. It doesn’t look easy, but I’ll do my best.”
In the Abu Dhabi race pace simulation, Charles Leclerc completed ten laps with times placing him in the top 10, but as usual, the starting position will strongly influence the race pace. Ferrari will need a strong final push in qualifying today.
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