Charles Leclerc credits key Ferrari trait for F1 Monaco GP resurgence

Charles Leclerc highlighted Ferrari’s strength over the kerbs and bumps as a key factor behind their resurgence at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

The Monaco weekend proved to be Leclerc and Ferrari’s strongest of the 2025 F1 season so far.

Leclerc qualified and finished in second place, scoring Ferrari’s second podium of the season.

Leclerc was able to challenge Lando Norris for the win, putting the McLaren driver under immense pressure in the closing part of the race.

Heading into the weekend, Leclerc downplayed his chances because of the SF-25’s inherent weakness in low-speed corners.

While Ferrari were still weaker than McLaren in this area, the Scuderia’s ability to ride the kerbs and bumps worked in their favour.

Speaking in the FIA press conference after the race, Leclerc was “proud” to come away with a big result given Ferrari’s disappointing campaign so far.

“I’m never really happy with second place,” Leclerc said. “Then if you do a step back and you look at our season, I think this is a very positive result for the whole team.

“Especially coming here, we had very low expectations, just because our low-speed performance has been very bad all season. However, I think here, it’s a very specific track because there are a lot of bumps, a lot of kerb riding, and I think our car is pretty good on that.

“That helped us to close the gap. So, yeah, I think we did a really good job, and 18 points plus the 10 of Lewis are very valuable points for the situation we are in.

“On that, I think we should be proud. Am I over the moon for a second place? Not really, but it’s been a very positive weekend anyway.”

Leclerc reflects on Norris fight

Leclerc got close to Norris on a number of occasions, particularly when the McLaren driver was stuck behind Max Verstappen.

Leclerc admitted that he ‘thought all night’ about how to get past Norris.

“It’s very difficult. When Max at the end was in front, I really believed in it until the very end,” he added.

“I thought about it all night, the two or three places where I could try something on Lando, and I was willing to take all the risks possible to try and get that win. But, unfortunately, these opportunities never came.

“Or at least I had maybe two or three laps where I was like, “OK, maybe I go for it,” but Lando straight away saw those and defended very well. So I basically couldn’t really go and try something. At the end, there were no opportunities for me.”