With McLaren now too far ahead, Charles Leclerc no longer believes in the World Championship title – He admits that the season has been “disappointing” so far
One sprint victory, three podium finishes and still no Grand Prix win. That is Ferrari’s meager tally after the first ten race weekends of the 2025 Formula 1 season. The Scuderia is now third in the Constructors’ Championship, trailing leaders McLaren by 191 points with less than half of the season gone.
It comes as no surprise that even Ferrari itself is slowly losing faith that this year could finally be the one to bring home its first world title in 17 years. It will certainly be “difficult,” admits Charles Leclerc.
“If you look at the points, we are very far behind. So we would have to completely dominate from now on,” says the Monegasque, who nevertheless admits: “I don’t think we have anything that leads us to believe that.”
Leclerc has finished on the podium in two of the last three races and achieved the Scuderia’s best result of the season so far with second place in Monaco. However, the gap to McLaren in the World Championship is now so big that the balance of power would have to be completely reversed.
Even a comeback like in 2024 would be far too little
That was exactly what Ferrari had hoped for in the early stages of the season, pointing to the stricter rules for front wings introduced in Barcelona, among other things. But those hopes were dashed by another McLaren one-two in Spain.
In addition, Maranello had repeatedly pointed out that they had also had problems in 2024 during the course of the season, but had ultimately turned things around and finished the Constructors’ Championship just 14 points behind world champions McLaren.
However, the truth is that Ferrari’s deficit to McLaren never exceeded 75 points in the whole of 2024. Currently, the gap is already more than twice as big – and McLaren itself is also significantly more dominant than last year.
That’s why Leclerc emphasizes that it’s better not to look at the world championship at all, but to simply take it “race by race” and continue to try to ‘maximize’ the results, according to the Monegasque, who admits: “The first part of the season was disappointing.”
“But we’ll keep doing our best and see where that takes us,” said Leclerc, who assured: “The motivation is still there.” Because it looks like it won’t happen again this year, with the first world championship title since 2008, rumors have been circulating recently in connection with Ferrari.
Rumors don’t matter to Leclerc
Among other things, it was said that team boss Frederic Vasseur could be on the chopping block, and some media outlets also reported that Leclerc himself was said to be unhappy. Vasseur already lashed out at these speculations during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.
Leclerc admits that Canada was a “frustrating race,” but emphasizes that the surrounding circumstances are irrelevant to him. “I’d rather focus on our work,” the 27-year-old clarifies.
“We’re not here to prove anyone wrong or anything like that. We’re just trying to do our job as best we can,” he emphasizes, explaining: “I think the team knows exactly where I stand, and I know what I want to do, and that’s the most important thing for me.”
“Of course, when rumors are circulating, it can be a little distracting, but I don’t think we’ve been influenced by them,” said Leclerc, who was much more diplomatic than his team boss. However, both agree that the current situation is not satisfactory.
Vasseur has already announced an upgrade for the SF-25 for the coming weeks. However, it is unlikely that this will enable Ferrari to jump to the top of the standings and completely turn the world championship battle on its head.
