Ferrari’s time running out to ‘save’ F1 championship: “50 points is a lot, we can’t afford to lose more”. Charles Leclerc discusses the challenges of qualifying and the 50-point deficit in the Drivers' Championship.

Qualifying Dilemma
Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and George Russell are separated by just 26 points in the top four positions of the Drivers’ standings (with only 12 points between Oscar Piastri, the leader, and Verstappen in third). Between George Russell and Charles Leclerc, who is fifth, there are another 26 points, creating what seems to be a standings split into two distinct groups. Obviously, the 10 points lost in China due to the penalty weigh heavily, but even adding Charles Leclerc’s fifth-place finish in Shanghai, he would still be 42 points behind Oscar Piastri, which is a significant gap after just five races.

After his third-place finish in Jeddah, the Ferrari driver highlighted that there isn’t much time left to fix the qualifying issues that are jeopardizing his World Championship hopes: “Formula 1 has always been a discipline where starting with clean air ahead makes a difference,” said Charles Leclerc. “This year, it seems this factor is making an even bigger difference than it used to, so qualifying is becoming crucial. However, in the last two years, we’ve struggled to put everything together in qualifying, because the problem isn’t always the same. For example, here we lost four-tenths in three corners, but in the race, the first sector was our strength. It’s clear we are missing something, and we need to understand what it is. We can’t afford to lose too many races before finding a solution, because we are already 50 points down in the Drivers’ Championship. We don’t think about it too much, but 50 points is a lot. I don’t want to lose more points in the upcoming races.”

The next race, on paper, seems quite challenging given the current characteristics of the Ferrari SF-25. The 2025 Ferrari appears to struggle in slow and tight corners, and Miami has a narrow and low-speed section. The Sprint format offers many points, which Leclerc can no longer afford to lose if he wants to stay in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship, while waiting to see if the Spanish Grand Prix will reveal if any teams are gaining an advantage with flexible wings.