Charles Leclerc shares Ferrari pain after 'special' McLaren discovery

Charles Leclerc has expressed his dissatisfaction with Ferrari's underwhelming campaign, stating the entire team is "disappointed" with its 2025 F1 season.

Heading into the year, the Scuderia had high hopes of capturing its first constructors' championship since 2008, following the arrival of Lewis Hamilton to further build upon its strong end to 2024.

The Maranello-based squad ended up missing out to McLaren by just 14 points last season, but looked poised to capitalise on its resurgence over the winter and challenge the papaya outfit for glory this term.

That has not transpired, and the constructors' champion has crushed the opposition, including Ferrari. With seven rounds to run, McLaren need to score just 13 points at the Singapore Grand Prix to wrap up its second title on the bounce — the first time it will have claimed consecutive crowns since 1991. 

Meanwhile, the Italian team finds itself in a tight battle for the runner-up spot with Mercedes and Red Bull. Despite having occupied second place in the standings for much of the year, it has slipped into third, behind the Brackley-based operation. However, just 20 points separate the three teams.

When asked by RacingNews365 if he could pinpoint why Ferrari has fallen so far behind McLaren and how much disappointment and frustration come with that, Leclerc replied: "I think we are all disappointed, as a team.

"Especially when, with Ferrari, you are always targeting being back on top and not fighting for a second, third or fourth place.

"That's not what we want, and so we are not happy — I'm not happy, and we've got to do better. And that's very clear for every member of the team."

McLaren 'found something special'

Leclerc and Hamilton sit fifth and sixth in the drivers' standings, respectively, and the Monegasque driver has collected five podium finishes over the opening 17 rounds of the year.

But Ferrari is the only team of the leading quartet yet to register a grand prix victory so far, leaving serious question marks over what went wrong, or rather, did not go right over the winter.

"Honestly, if I knew exactly the area where we are lacking, it would be easy work," the 27-year-old added.

It's not as easy as that, but what I can say is that Mercedes, Red Bull, and ourselves kind of did the same step from last year to this year.

"But there's one team that found something special, and that is McLaren, and now it's up to us to understand what they've done so special, in order to close that gap.

"I think Red Bull probably found part of the solution, and we could see that in the last few races. Mercedes and ourselves didn't yet, and we are working towards that.

"But to tell you exactly where we are lacking, we know what areas. How do we achieve that is another story.

"And there's a lot of work to understand that and to find the solutions, but McLaren kind of did a step that nobody else did."