Jeddah circuit: Charles Leclerc penalized by mechanical grip of SF-25

Ferrari is once again in difficulty. The fifth round of the 2025 Formula 1 season leaves no escape for the Prancing Horse, once again disappointing on a difficult track but with fewer compromises compared to the Bahrain International Circuit. And so, we are once again commenting on the same result: second and fourth row, where the Red car seems to have settled. And the new floor? It hasn’t made the expected difference after the Sakhir debut.

Let’s analyze the telemetry comparison between the poleman Max Verstappen’s lap and Charles Leclerc’s fourth place with a deficit of 0.376 seconds. It wasn’t a good Ferrari as one might have expected, especially until the end of Q2, with both drivers encountering major difficulties in the first sector, unable to properly activate the tires in the optimal window, especially at the front.

And this represents a huge problem on a track like Jeddah. As highlighted on Friday in the analysis of the second free practice session, the characteristics of the Saudi street circuit, namely extremely high speeds, tight corners, walls just inches away, require a precise front end, capable of guaranteeing quick, sharp, and repeated direction changes. Therefore, the front end must be stiffened, inevitably sacrificing some grip in slow corners.

Indeed, as seen from the telemetry data, this is where the Red car struggles. While the SF-25 is quite good in the fast sections, in the lower-speed section – located precisely in the first sector – the car struggles to heat up the tires and rotate as it should. It is between turns 1 and 2 that Charles Leclerc loses a significant 0.265 seconds to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. The reason is twofold and can be quickly explained:

A corner entry affected by understeer, which forces Charles Leclerc to carry less speed through the corner; a less aggressive line compared to the Dutchman, who cuts the first curb more, travels a shorter distance, and is better positioned for the direction change. Bryan Bozzi has repeatedly emphasized how problematic this section is. Even in turn 4, the SF-25’s issues are confirmed: Charles Leclerc takes the corner with 6 kilometers per hour less.

He has to hesitate on the throttle to avoid losing the rear. In the following section, between turns 5 and 12, car number 16 remains relatively stable at the rear, and Charles Leclerc handles the direction changes with determination and fluidity. But even here, Red Bull has the upper hand: it manages to generate more downforce at very high speeds, allowing Max Verstappen to keep the throttle down longer, while the Monegasque is forced to lift off by a good 20-30%.

By the end of the first sector, the gap between Charles Leclerc’s SF-25 car and Max Verstappen’s RB21 is 0.350 second, practically identical to the final gap at the finish line. This confirms the difficulties of the Italian car in the slower section and the competitiveness, however, in the two-thirds of the track at higher speeds where the Monegasque car holds up well compared to the Milton Keynes machine.

Arriving at turn 13, the elevated hairpin, Charles Leclerc pushes hard and manages to bring 10 kilometers per hour more in entry speed, then goes with the throttle earlier, with the car still in the process of settling. At turn 16, however, he experiences a slight snap at the rear, forcing him to barely touch the brake and slightly lift the throttle on exit, but without a significant impact on the lap time.

In the rest of the lap, top speed values are almost identical, confirming that, in today’s race, overtaking will require being significantly faster at the exits of key corners, rather than relying solely on top speed. It should also be noted that the DRS zone and the slipstream will certainly contribute to overtakes, as Jeddah usually sees these maneuvers frequently.

In Q3, Charles Leclerc gave his best with the available package, which mechanically doesn’t guarantee optimal performance in the slower sectors. The comparison with Hamilton highlights even more the difficulties in the slower section (1-2), where the Englishman has to brake many meters earlier to rotate better, and even then, he still faces problems.

In the rest of the lap, Lewis Hamilton’s lack of confidence is evident: he loses from half a tenth to a tenth and a half in every fast corner and direction change compared to the Monegasque, carrying much less speed through the corners: -7, -17, -13, -4 kilometers per hour in the fastest sections. The qualifying tally is ruthless: 5-1 in favor of the Monegasque. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion still has a lot of work to do to reach his teammate’s level in qualifying pace.