CHARLES LECLERC RESPONDS TO FERRARI ‘PERCEPTION’ AS FUTURE RUMOURS ADDRESSED

Charles Leclerc believes caution should apply when speaking about Ferrari’s form in F1 2025, and acknowledged the pressure the Scuderia races under.

Ferrari occupies third in the Constructors’ Championship, 16 points behind Mercedes, as McLaren has romped away at the front with almost double the points tally of the Brackley-based squad.

Charles Leclerc ‘surprised’ by Ferrari rumour mill

Having finished in the runner-up slot in F1 2024, Ferrari, on paper, appears to be having a similar season to last.

But, last year, Ferrari’s diligent upgrades on an already competitive car meant the SF-24 finished the year as, perhaps, a capable match for McLaren’s title-winning MCL38.

This year, that is very much not the case as the SF-25’s performance usually sees the Scuderia as the fourth-quickest of the top four teams and, if it weren’t for Red Bull’s single-sided scoring with Max Verstappen, would likely have slipped to fourth.

Ferrari has scored just three podium finishes so far this season, and victories appear out of reach at this point as McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes have each reached the top step of the podium.

Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the team’s performance sparked a deluge of speculation that largely focused on the future of team boss Fred Vasseur, but also suggested that Leclerc is evaluating his future with the team.

The Monegasque is under contract until 2029, marking a decade since he first stepped up into the Scuderia’s driver line-up in 2019, but reports in Italian media claimed Leclerc could be eyeing up a switch to Mercedes or Aston Martin in a bid to land his maiden title.

Speaking about the speculation as he spoke to the media over the Canadian Grand Prix, Leclerc denied he had ever said anything about considering leaving Ferrari.

“I’m very surprised. I mean, I have no idea where it’s coming from, so, yeah, I’d rather just ignore it,” he said.

“But I’ve never said anything of this in the last few races; if anything, I keep saying how much I love the team and how much I want to bring back Ferrari to the top. So, yeah, I was just surprised.”

Given that most of the rumour mill has focused on Vasseur, rather than the driver pairing of Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc echoed Hamilton’s support for Vasseur.

“We have a vision that we share; us three, Fred, Lewis, and myself in order to try and get back to winning, and we’ve been working to put that all together,” he said.

“This is, for sure, our plan, and I think we shall stick to it.”

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Charles Leclerc: Being second at Ferrari isn’t good enough

While Leclerc appeared to pour cold water on the suggestions of him eyeing up a departure, the Monegasque pointed out that the perception of the team’s season being bad has been exacerbated by such speculation, even if there is an acknowledgement things could be better.

“I think none of us is satisfied with how it’s going at the moment, that’s clear,” he said.

“We came into the season thinking that we had chances to challenge McLaren and Red Bull in order to win the championship. That has not been the case so far.

“However, it’s fair also to say that I don’t think many people understood, apart from McLaren… like they’ve done a huge step forward compared to last year, a lot more than anybody else.

“If we compare ourselves to our other competitors, apart from McLaren, it’s not like we are having a shocking season.

“We are second in the constructors and yeah, as a matter of fact, this is not good enough, and we’re not happy with that, and we need to understand what McLaren found.

“But we also need to be careful about everything that is going around the team, because sometimes, I think, it can change the perception of someone’s season.

“McLaren is doing an outstanding job. We are absolutely not happy with the situation we are in at the moment. However, I feel like we just need to find – ourselves as well as Mercedes and Red Bull – the outstanding thing that McLaren has found.”

The expectation around Ferrari coming into the season, thanks to its strong end to 2024 and the arrival of Hamilton, has perhaps put the team’s slide under the microscope more than if it had had a more low-key season last year, but Leclerc said the pressure that is always applied to Ferrari means that nothing short of outright success will ever be good enough.

“We are already putting ourselves under a lot of pressure,” he said.

“Of course, there are some talks that are not something that you want to hear. But the pressure is normal to have it.

“When you are working for Ferrari, second is never good enough, but we are all aware of it, so it’s not like the outside pressure is having any influence on the pressure that we put ourselves [under] first.

“We want to be winning. As I keep saying, it’s not good enough, but I’m not the only one to say that. All the team knows that it’s not good enough and that Ferrari should be winning, and that’s what we are putting all our efforts into, to try and bring Ferrari back to the top.

“At the moment, McLaren is a stronger team, and it’s up to us to react, but yeah, we definitely need to forget everything that is said around the team.

“But I think that’s something I got used to over the years.

“Obviously, there are times when you’ve got more rumours to deal with, because the questions are obviously directed towards certain topics, and it’s not always a nice thing to do.

“But I understand it and, at the end of the day, that’s how Ferrari is and has always been. So you’ve got to deal with it, but I don’t think we are affected by it.”

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2025-06-21T16:04:28Z