Frustrated Charles Leclerc makes stark Ferrari admission
Charles Leclerc concedes Ferrari cannot compete with their F1 rivals at the moment.
Charles Leclerc has admitted Ferrari are simply “not fast enough” to compete with their rivals at this stage of the 2025 F1 season.
Leclerc started second at the Bahrain Grand Prix after a brilliant qualifying performance, aided by a penalty for Mercedes’ George Russell, but dropped to fourth in a challenging race on Sunday.
The Monegasque finished one place ahead of Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, but neither driver could match the quicker McLarens or Russell’s Mercedes over a grand prix distance.
Despite bringing their first significant upgrade package of the year, Leclerc concluded that Ferrari are still lacking pace to their competitors.
“We are just not fast enough, that’s the summary,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1. “We don’t have that pace in the car.
“Mercedes were quite a bit better in terms of degradation compared to us. The soft, we couldn’t keep them for long enough, but they could. So that was a surprise.
“The pace was just not there and it’s just very disappointing when I think you do everything quite well, but it’s only P4.”
Where do Ferrari need to improve?
Speaking to media away from the TV pen, Leclerc outlined the key areas he feels Ferrari need to improve following a lacklustre start to the campaign.
"I think we just need more overall downforce, more grip," Leclerc said.
“I think the balance - we are extracting the maximum out of the car at the moment, but there's just nothing more. I just need more grip to go faster around the corners.
"In qualifying, I still feel like we can hide that a little bit, doing a few tricks. But then once you are in the race, no grip is no grip. It's more degradation, so it's a snowball effect once you are in the race. So it's a bit trickier in the race.
"Eventually, I'm sure that we'll find our way - but how long before we do, I don't know.”
The result leaves Ferrari fourth in the constructors’ championship on 57 points following four rounds.
Ferrari have at least closed the gap to third-placed Red Bull to 14 points.
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