Scuderia Ferrari Formula One driver Charles Leclerc has opened up about the “reality of the situation” facing him and his team, after a disappointing Singapore Grand Prix, where he finished in P6. Leclerc isn’t too optimistic about the rest of the 2025 season either, since the SF-25 F1 car will not be receiving any upgrades.
The Monegasque driver started the race weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on the back foot after securing a P7 race start, one spot behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc fought a lonely race, finishing sixth while close rivals Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull were clearly faster during the race. George Russell won the race after starting from pole position, followed by Max Verstappen in second and Lando Norris in third.
Ferrari is unable to address the issue plaguing its cars, while other teams brought in timely upgrades in recent weeks that seemed to have helped enhance performance, such as Mercedes and Red Bull. Considering the car’s current performance, Leclerc stated that it would be challenging to improve positions. He said:
“It’s tough, it’s very tough. We are not strong at the moment and we are struggling massively with the car. It’s not easy. I wish I could say that I’m positive for the rest of the season, I don’t think there’s anything in the car that proves to me that we are going to do a step forward.
“I think this is the reality of our situation at the moment. I don’t quite know how to turn that situation around because we don’t have new parts or anything coming to the car.
“We did steps forward [at the start of the season] but the others did as well so the gap stayed kind of the same and then Red Bull kind of found two steps in a season.
“First half and then in Monza more recently where they did a really big step forward, and now Mercedes seems to have done this step forward and we are the only one that didn’t find that solution.”
The Singapore GP weekend was worse for Hamilton, who faced a scary brake failure situation in the last few laps. He dropped from fighting for P5 to finishing in P8 due to the incident, which also forced him to exceed track limits and attract a five-second penalty. Ferrari is currently placed third in the Championship Standings after losing the second spot to Mercedes. It now faces a threat from Red Bull in fourth, given the gap of eight points between the two teams.