‘Rumours’ now swirling around the F1 paddock about something Ferrari did behind the scenes at the Monaco Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc might have been more surprised than anybody when he realised that his Ferrari was far more competitive than anybody expected at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Ferrari have had a very difficult start to the 2025 F1 season after narrowly missing out on last year’s constructors’ championship.

Heading into the Monaco Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc had secured their only Grand Prix podium of the season, while Lewis Hamilton’s success was limited to F1’s shortened Sprint Race events in China and Miami.

Leclerc topped all three practice sessions on the streets of Monte Carlo, but even after finding some unexpected pace, he admitted that he was ‘not convinced’ whether his supremacy would last.

However, it took a lap record from McLaren star Lando Norris to deny Leclerc another home pole position and he only finished three seconds behind the Brit during Sunday’s bizarre race.

Leclerc used his Michael Schumacher-esque technique in Monaco to split the two McLarens and all eyes now turn to the Spanish Grand Prix to see whether Ferrari’s return to the podium was a one-off or a promising sign of things to come.

Journalist Christian Hewgill heard something in the Monaco paddock that suggests Ferrari made an extra effort to be competitive at the 27-year-old’s home race.

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People in the F1 paddock believe Ferrari ‘turned their engine up’ at the Monaco Grand Prix

Hewgill was speaking on The Fast and The Curious Podcast in the aftermath of the Monaco Grand Prix after watching Leclerc achieve his best result of the season.

He explained: “Let’s talk about Ferrari because Charles Leclerc came into this weekend saying it’s going to be a disaster.

“It is going to be awful. We’ll be lucky if we get the car to move at all. It’s the world’s slowest machine. We might as well be driving a shopping trolley. Some of these quotes have been made up, but he wasn’t far off.

“And actually, all right, maybe Ferrari turned their engine up a bit to really give it some in Monaco.

“That’s some rumours that we’ve been hearing. But regardless, Lewis got a bit unlucky with his grid penalty, obviously.

“But Charles P2, that’s surely as good as Ferrari could have hoped for this weekend, isn’t it really?”

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Ferrari’s power units could cause Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc problems this season

It’s not unusual for Ferrari to bring specific updates to their home races at Imola and Monza to try and gain an advantage over their rivals in front of the adoring Tifosi.

While that didn’t quite work out as planned at the potentially final race at Imola last weekend, Leclerc and Hamilton’s step forward in Monaco will be very much welcomed by their fans.

However, Ferrari may have to take engine penalties further down the line this season.

There are concerns about their reliability and as a result, they may end up using more components than allowed to avoid failures like the one Fernando Alonso experienced on Sunday.

For this reason, Ferrari may have decided to turn up their engines in Monaco knowing that the parts they rely on are not going to be used for as many miles as many of their rivals’ engines.

It’s an interesting tactic, but only time will tell whether it pays off in the long run.