Ferrari has had a disappointing first half of the season despite sitting in second place. The Scuderia sits 238 points behind McLaren and is the only front-running team yet to win a Grand Prix. However, Charles Leclerc has shown flashes of pace in the SF-25 and has stood on the podium on four occasions.
Leclerc is a harsh critic of himself shown in the last race weekend at Silverstone. The Monogasque believed he could’ve challenged for the front row, but a small mistake cost him as he finished qualifying in P6. This led to the eight-time race winner venting his frustrations over the team radio. His boss, Fred Vasseur, believes that this mentality is a hindrance as well as a good quality.
Fred Vasseur says Charles Leclerc can be too harsh on himself
Silverstone is not the first time that Leclerc has used team radio to vent his anguish at his own mistake. The 27-year-old famously criticised himself in 2019, saying, “I am stupid” over the team radio when crashing while qualifying in Azerbaijan. And although this is a good quality for a driver to have, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur thinks Leclerc can take it too far.
The Frenchman said: “One of the qualities of Charles is that he is able to blame himself, and one of the faults of Charles is sometimes he’s blaming himself a bit too much. “
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“As a team, I appreciate a lot the fact that drivers can say, ‘Okay, my mistake’ – this is positive, because it’s not bringing the team in the wrong direction and they are human. They are doing mistakes as everybody [does], and it’s good to have the drivers able to say this.”
However disappointed Leclerc might feel this season, there is room to be optimistic. He has a season-high result of second at his home race in Monaco, and has outscored his teammate so far this season. Ferrari is optimistic that a new rear suspension will gain the SF-25 speed in qualifying and close the gap to McLaren and challenge for race wins.
Charles Leclerc has a different race weekend strategy, says team boss
Charles Leclerc has shown great pace on a Saturday. The Ferrari driver has put his car on pole on 26 occasions, many times when he doesn’t have the fastest car that weekend. However, he has only converted those pole positions to race wins on five occasions. This is a conversion rate of just under twenty per cent.
This season, Leclerc has yet to start from the front. However, Fred Vasseur has put this down to the fact that Leclerc has changed the way he is approaching race weekend. Vasseur continued: “He did a real step forward in terms of race pace, perhaps also with the set-up of the car, and it’s all going into the direction to be more difficult for the Quali.”
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“But I remember perfectly that two years ago we were telling him, ‘Charles, we are scoring points on Sunday, let’s be more focused on Sunday, let’s be more focused on the set-up on Sunday’, because it’s Sunday that we are scoring points.”
Ferrari’s hopes in either championship are largely over with such large deficits to claw back. This season is all about gaining momentum for next season and helping create resources from this season to move into 2026. With Lewis Hamilton’s input, next season could be where Ferrari mounts their challenge.
