Fred Vasseur refuses to discuss Charles Leclerc’s big Ferrari wish to avoid raising ‘excessive expectations’ in Italy

Charles Leclerc seized on Red Bull rival Max Verstappen’s poor safety car restart in the Spanish Grand Prix to earn Ferrari back-to-back podiums for the first time this season.

The Scuderia have had far from the season that the Maranello crew hoped for after finishing second in the 2024 F1 constructors’ championship to McLaren by 14 points. Ferrari now trail the Woking squad by 197 points after the Spanish GP, with just 165 points to McLaren’s 362.

Leclerc has scored 94 of Ferrari’s points so far this season after finishing third in the Spanish GP, while teammate Lewis Hamilton has 71 to his name. Hamilton also only sealed P6 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya due to Verstappen’s penalty for crashing into George Russell.

Ferrari already saw Leclerc punish Verstappen’s poor safety car restart in the Spanish GP to take over his podium place before the Red Bull racer rammed into Russell. The Scuderia also told Hamilton to let Leclerc through on Lap 10/66 in Spain after he held the Monegasque up.

Fred Vasseur wants to avoid raising ‘excessive expectations’ about Ferrari’s upgrade plans

Third place in Montmelo even secured back-to-back podiums for Leclerc and Ferrari for the first time in the 2025 F1 season after the 27-year-old’s P2 finish in the Monaco Grand Prix as Hamilton came fifth. But Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur wants to avoid fans getting carried away.

That is according to Auto Motor und Sport, which reports that Vasseur refused to answer its questions at the Spanish GP about Ferrari’s upgrades. Their team principal does not want to discuss the timing or extent of any upgrades to avoid raising ‘excessive expectations’ in Italy.

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Vasseur would only confirm that Ferrari “will bring upgrades” to the SF-25 in the future as they try to improve Hamilton and Leclerc’s car. Not all of Ferrari’s upgrades “will be visible”, as well, as they search for mechanical solutions rather than aerodynamic answers right now.

A vital part of their update plans also includes Ferrari’s rear suspension upgrade due at the Austrian Grand Prix. Maranello chiefs hope the new suspension can help to make the SF-25 more predictable for Hamilton and get the Pirelli tyres into their operating windows sooner.

Charles Leclerc does not expect Ferrari will fight for regular podiums with upgrades

But Vasseur refusing to put a timeframe on Ferrari’s upgrades may not be music to Leclerc’s ears. The 27-year-old admitted after the Spanish GP that he still does not expect to fight for regular podiums after sealing third at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya without upgrades.

“Today, we finished on the podium because we were lucky with the safety car,” Leclerc told Motorsport Week. “Otherwise, I think fourth was our position. So, I don’t think I have much more confidence in order to finish on the podium consistently. But we are getting there.

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“I guess we start to understand the car [and] how we can set it up in order to extract the maximum out of it. But, still, we need to go in quite extreme directions, which is not so nice to drive. So, unless we have upgrades very soon, I think it’s going to be difficult to be fighting regularly for podiums.”

Leclerc was running fourth in the Spanish GP before the safety car period to recover Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes in the gravel at Turn 10. He was also 16.575s behind Red Bull ace Verstappen in P3, far more than the three to four seconds he lost behind Hamilton.

But Red Bull put Verstappen on hard tyres under the safety car in Spain as they did not have any new tyres, whereas Ferrari gave Leclerc a set of softs. He utilised the superior rubber to pass Verstappen on the L61 restart and built up a 1.371s gap thanks to his fight with Russell.