Ferrari’s performance “a snowball effect” of problems, says Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc has described Ferrari’s current performance struggles as “a snowball effect” following another hard race at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. After a front-row start for the Monegasque, benefiting from a penalty levied on George Russell, he dropped to fourth by the race end. 

The Scuderia brought a promising upgrade package to the SF-25 for this weekend’s campaign consisting mostly of a modified floor. While the outfit was expecting a vast increase in performance, the cars benefitted from an increased level of downforce – a performance increase that was noticeable come Saturday. 

Following the race, Leclerc gave his assessment of the pace of the car.

“I think we just need more overall downforce, more grip,” Leclerc explained to the media. “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.”

He continued:

“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.”

McLaren had another good race, with Oscar Piastri taking the win after a commanding race and Lando Norris finishing third despite a penalty early on in the race. When asked if McLaren were using ‘tricks’ to maintain their tyre temperatures.

“McLaren has a big advantage in terms of managing the overheating. That’s where I think we need to put most focus as a team, because once [it] comes to the race, they are just a step ahead,” he confirmed.

“I don’t think [it’s] tricks. I think it’s downforce and probably something that they managed to do with the tyres in general. But I have no doubt that everything is legal or whatsoever. By saying ‘tricks,’ I don’t want it to be misunderstood. But for sure, they are doing something very good with their tyres, and they manage to keep those temperatures lower than everybody else.”

The driver also commented on his radio messages regarding a potential one-stop earlier in the race.

“I felt like it was at one point, but we did the right thing, especially considering the safety car. So I mean nobody knew that there would be a safety car in the second part of the race, but at the end, it ended up being the right thing to go for two stops.”

Moving onto hard tyres at the end of the race, Leclerc confirms that it was the right choice.

“I think it was [the right call] considering what we had, but when you look at George, he obviously managed to make those softs last until the end. I don’t think that this was a possibility for us, but we’ll review that. But I don’t think that was a game-changer.”