Ferrari’s difficult weekend continues in Qatar, with the team appearing a shadow of itself, grappling with problems that even reopening parc fermé could not fix. Charles Leclerc’s words reveal a driver rarely so pessimistic, struggling to find reasons to smile at Lusail.
“The whole weekend has been incredibly difficult.” Short but powerful words perfectly capture the mood of a disheartened Charles Leclerc, forced to battle a nervous Ferrari that is hard to push to its limits. The clearest example came during the first Q3 attempt, when the Monegasque lost the rear of his SF-25 and ended up in the gravel, resulting in a spectacular spin.
Early signs of difficulty appeared yesterday, when Ferrari had to contend with a disappointing Sprint qualifying, finishing only ninth. Today, the situation worsened, with Charles Leclerc unable to improve beyond tenth on the grid. Charles himself noted how rivals took the steps forward Ferrari had hoped for.
It was a frustrating weekend, made even more bitter by a tenth-place qualifying finish despite what he described as a good lap. The gap of almost 1.2 seconds to pole speaks volumes. While the lap came on a used tire, the overall picture seems to reflect the limits of a Ferrari once again hindered by its shortcomings.
“Incredibly difficult day, incredibly difficult weekend, I really don’t know what to say. Driving this car and keeping it on track was extremely challenging. I am trying absolutely everything to get anything out of this car, but at the moment, this is all I can do,” Charles Leclerc said after qualifying.
Charles Leclerc explained that he had radically changed his car setup compared to yesterday, hoping to find the same performance gains seen in the last two sprints in Austin and Brazil. This time, however, nothing delivered the expected results. In fact, the changes tested during the Sprint race against Lewis Hamilton produced the opposite effect.
“We take the risks. Yesterday the car was very aggressive, today much less. We tried to change the car, but nothing brought us closer. In fact, perhaps others moved a step ahead of us. I am very disappointed.”
The difficulties persisted in qualifying, confirming that the SF-25 remains unpredictable and tough to drive on Lusail’s long high-speed corners. Entering corners, annoying understeer limits speed, the same problem Charles Leclerc reported yesterday, while on exit it turns into noticeable oversteer, making the car unstable and hard to control.
Hamilton noted that the car suffers from significant bouncing, which combined with oversteer, heavily affected his performance, bringing back sensations from months ago. Charles Leclerc managed understeer better, but the fundamental limits of the SF-25 remain clear.
It is no coincidence that, analyzing his lap against pole position, the weaknesses are visible in nearly every corner, showing the issues are general, not related to a single solvable aspect. It is in medium and high-speed corners, where confidence in the car is crucial, that drivers lose most time.
“It’s frustrating, but the best I can do is reset for tomorrow and get back on track motivated, trying to do something special. Am I optimistic for tomorrow? No, and that’s quite rare. I’m usually very optimistic, but this weekend there is no performance in this car.”
“I hope tomorrow goes better, but nothing I’ve tried with this car makes me think I will feel better. I’ll wait and try to maximize everything possible tomorrow with the Safety Cars. Hopefully, we’ll get a bit of luck, and probably that’s my only hope for tomorrow.”
With Lewis Hamilton starting even further back in P17, Ferrari face a monumental task to salvage anything from what has become one of the lowest points of a deeply disappointing 2025 season.
Leave a Reply