Having raced to the podium in Saudi Arabia, Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari is being compromised by its qualifying performances.

Leclerc claimed his first podium of the year in Saudi Arabia, taking third place on the road behind race winner Oscar Piastri and second-place finisher Max Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc: Ferrari ‘doing something wrong’ in qualifying

The true picture of Ferrari‘s competitiveness over the first five races of the F1 2025 hasn’t been particularly clear.

With the team having opted for a change in suspension design, moving from pull-rod to push-rod suspension, the SF-25’s potential appears yet to be fully unlocked.

A slow start in Australia gave way to a stronger outing in China as Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth on the road, only for both to be disqualified for two separate technical infringements.

Hamilton has struggled for performance since switching to Ferrari from Mercedes, but Leclerc’s consistency saw him finish fourth in Japan and Bahrain, before taking to the podium in Saudi Arabia.

Of the top four teams, Ferrari has had the slowest start with a total of 78 points and is already 110 points off McLaren’s lead. Third-placed Red Bull are 11 points clear of Ferrari – well within range as the season continues in Miami this weekend.

Ferrari clearly had the legs on Mercedes in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, but Leclerc had to fight his way forward after qualifying behind George Russell, and it’s in the Saturday single-lap pace that Leclerc feels Ferrari is being compromised – leading to more difficult Sundays.

“I think we are close on the race pace. I think free air dictates a little bit who is going to win the race,” he said after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“That’s always been the case. Maybe this year a little bit more than other years.

“And obviously when that is the case, qualifying is more important.

“But unfortunately, for two years, we are just struggling in qualifying to put everything together. This weekend the problem is it’s not always the same issue.

“This time it was four-tenths in the first three corners. For the rest of the lap, we were fast.

“And now today in the race, actually, the first sector was probably the best sector we had. So we’ve got to look at that.

“Obviously, there are answers in what we are doing, and we are doing something wrong, clearly. We’ve got to find it.

“We cannot lose too many races before finding it because we’re already 50 points down in the Drivers’ Championship. We’re not looking at it too much, but 50 points is a big number. I don’t want to be losing more points than that in the next few races.”

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Charles Leclerc: Ferrari need a better car in qualifying

With the team starting to unlock its knowledge of the SF-25, Leclerc said what has been surprising for him is that the qualifying handling characteristics are at odds with the strong performances in race conditions.

“There wasn’t anything more in the car,” he said of his third place.

“I think we need to focus on qualifying because it’s been a very long time I haven’t been as happy with the car balance.

“I feel very at ease with the car in a way that I know I can extract the maximum out of the car more often than not, but unfortunately, the car potential is just not good enough to fight for better in qualifying.

“In the race, the good car balance had results. We were all surprised by our pace in free air on the first stint. That was really good.

“Everything else was perfectly executed. Strategy was great. Pit stops have been great the whole season and also the whole of last year as well. There wasn’t much more we could have done.

“In terms of track familiarity, I don’t think it has any impact on performance at the moment. We just need a better car. If we start further up, we’ll have our chances.

“If not, we’re all too close in the race to make a difference. We really need to focus and put everything together in qualifying.”

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