Heading into the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was not expecting his team to be fighting for a race win. But that’s exactly what they were doing on Sunday. However, the race didn’t turn out as they had hoped after the Monegasque driver finished 4th. After the race, Leclerc revealed a technical fault with his Ferrari that had caused him to miss victory.
After an extraordinary qualifying performance on Saturday, Charles started on pole for the race. During the first half, he drove perfectly, keeping both the McLarens and George Russell behind. However, during the final stint, he was unable to hold position and eventually lost out on the podium.
Ferrari’s technical issues that cost Charles Leclerc victory in Budapest
While everything seemed fine on Charles Leclerc’s car during the race, there was one unexpected issue. Leclerc himself found out about this issue after the race. Here’s what he said in Ferrari’s post-race report:
“I got some more insight into what was happening after getting out of the car, and it turns out that we had an issue on the chassis that started just about when I began to feel a difference in how the car behaved.”
So close to contact! 😵
Russell gets past Leclerc and into the podium places 🥉#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/nZC8vsvoCj
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 3, 2025
This unseen chassis issue was what caused him to lose pace to the McLarens and George Russell in the Mercedes. There is no doubt that the Hungarian Grand Prix gave a good chance for Ferrari to get their first race win. They had track position, plus, the track does not provide a lot of overtaking opportunities. But with old tyres and a chassis issue, Leclerc had to succumb and come home in P4.
The biggest blow for Leclerc was not losing the race to the McLarens, but to Mercedes. Ferrari is in direct competition with Mercedes for 2nd place in the Constructors’ Championship. It’s not practical for the Prancing Horses to catch up to McLaren, so they must try their best to hold on to 2nd. In Hungary, they did not. Russell took 3rd place from Leclerc while Antonelli finished 10th with Hamilton out of the points.
After the Hungarian GP, Mercedes is just 24 points behind. A simple race win from the German team could see them take 2nd place in the Constructors’. That is how close the battle is.
Ferrari are not bringing more upgrades to the SF-25
Ferrari brought a fresh set of upgrades for the Belgian GP. Ahead of the weekend, Lewis Hamilton confirmed that this would be the last major upgrade for the team this year. So whatever parts Ferrari has on the car now, they will have to continue with them for the remainder of the season to fight for 2nd in the Constructors’. However, this is the case for most, if not all, the team in Formula 1.
Lewis Hamilton Is Already Reshaping Ferrari Behind the Scenes With Bold Demands for 2026 Car
Next year, the FIA will be introducing a new set of technical regulations that could shake up the grid. This is why all the teams are now putting more focus on developing the 2026 car over the 2025 car.
Lewis Hamilton has already stated that the next era of F1 cars from Ferrari would have his DNA in them. He has already started working with the engineers, sending them documents and using his years of experience in the sport to help Ferrari build a car that is capable of winning the Championship.
It will be interesting to see where Ferrari lies in the pecking order for the 2026 season.
