Spain: Ferrari shows promise in FP1, but Charles Leclerc struggles in FP2 – Pirelli explains why. Pirelli explains Ferrari's drop in performance from FP1 to FP2 at the Spanish GP.

After Friday in Spain, the situation at Ferrari doesn’t appear particularly encouraging. From the disappointing results in practice emerged an SF-25 still struggling on a circuit that should suit its characteristics and be less dependent on mechanical compromise. These conditions had, during FP1 of the Spanish GP, shown a Ferrari with Charles Leclerc impressing thanks to his race pace on Pirelli’s C3 tyres.

Simone Berra, Pirelli’s Motorsport engineer, met with the press, at the circuit to talk about the day just concluded. Many driver choices and all tyre compounds tested allowed the Italian manufacturer to piece together a complex picture of the new compounds. This is because the new C2, introduced in 2025, is softer than the 2024 version and better balanced between the C1 and C3.

What caught the media’s attention at the track was Charles Leclerc’s performance in the morning with his SF-25 on fresh C6 tyres. After stringing together a series of very strong laps, the weekend outlook seemed positive, only to fall apart in the afternoon with a simulation to forget for both Ferrari drivers. It was a phenomenon that didn’t entirely surprise Simone Berra, who clarified Charles Leclerc’s situation.

“In general, I’d say degradation was similar across all three compounds. The C1 struggles due to sliding and essentially generates a lot of surface overheating, so the pace isn’t good for that reason. But thermally, it is the most resistant tyre, on paper. The downside is that it really doesn’t generate grip on the asphalt, so you can’t extract performance from it.”

“The C3 and C2 are very similar from our point of view. I imagine the C3 is a good race tyre: since degradation is high, if you don’t suffer a major drop in performance and you don’t reach 100% wear on the front-left, and if you know how to manage the tyres – as you said – in a long stint, then obviously it’s a good race tyre. And in a long stint, the pace was quite similar to that of the C3. We saw this last year as well, so it doesn’t surprise us.”