Ferrari is struggling with a serious weakness in the 2025 Formula 1 season, according to Leclerc: a lack of pace in qualifying – but team principal Vasseur warns that
After the first race weekends of the 2025 Formula 1 season, Ferrari is facing a recurring problem: a lack of performance in qualifying, as Charles Leclerc notes after the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Monegasque qualified sixth for the main race there, one position behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had secured pole for the sprint.
From Leclerc’s point of view, the SF-25 lacks the necessary speed on a fast lap, while its race pace appears competitive. “The problem is that we lose too much in qualifying,” he says.
Leclerc: “We need to improve our qualifying”
“Lewis did a really, really good job in the sprint qualifying, but I think he overperformed the car a little bit. And then in the actual qualifying, we saw our true performance, and I think that shows where we really stand in terms of qualifying pace.”
Of course, this makes life more difficult for Ferrari in the race from the outset, also because McLaren is “much faster” in qualifying, says Leclerc, “and I would say that in race trim they are roughly at our level”.
“But if we start three or four positions further back, the race is as good as over. That’s why we have to improve in qualifying,” says the Ferrari driver.
The development of recent years shows a noticeable shift in this regard. “For a year and a half, the trend has completely reversed. We used to have a strong qualifying but suffered in the race. Now it’s the other way around.”
“We have to find the right balance, because at the moment we are paying the price for not having things under control in qualifying.” When asked whether it is more of a set-up problem or a fundamental characteristic of the car, Leclerc remains at a loss: ”I wish I had the answer.”
“At the moment, we are still looking for the right solutions to this problem. We haven’t found them yet. In any case, I can’t imagine that a design feature is causing it. I think it’s more a matter of optimally setting up the car for the short runs and finding the right balance in the setup.”
Vasseur warns against jumping to conclusions
Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur takes a more nuanced view of the situation and warns against jumping to conclusions. “We shouldn’t draw any premature conclusions,” he says.
“We see differences between individual stints and track conditions. Lewis took the sprint pole and was able to stay in front. This means that the qualifying pace is not fundamentally bad. It’s about finding the right optimizations and consistently exploiting our potential.”
