Charles Leclerc denies 2025 has been a “shocking” F1 season for Ferrari

Charles Leclerc insists Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 campaign shouldn’t be described as “shocking”, despite the team failing to score a win this year.

While the Scuderia challenged McLaren for the constructors’ title until the final F1 race of 2024, ultimately missing out by just 14 points, it hasn’t been regularly fighting near the front this year with the SF-25.

The widening gulf between the two squads this year is primarily down to the step McLaren had taken over the winter, but Ferrari has also lagged behind Mercedes and Red Bull at several rounds.

With 10 of the 24 races complete, Ferrari is yet to register a single race win, with Leclerc managing just three podiums so far and newcomer Lewis Hamilton finishing no higher than fourth.

By contrast, McLaren and Red Bull have shared the majority of race wins, while Mercedes’ breakthrough triumph in Canada lifted it to second in the constructors’ standings, ahead of Ferrari.

Leclerc admitted the results have been underwhelming, but rejected the notion that Ferrari’s form has been disastrous. He believes the Prancing Horse needs to take lessons from McLaren to close the gap to the front.

"I think none of us is satisfied with how it is going at the moment, that is clear," Leclerc was quoted by racingnews365. "We came into the season thinking that we had chances to challenge McLaren and Red Bull in order to win the championship, and that has not been the case so far.

"McLaren has done a huge step forward compared to last year, a lot more than anyone else, and if we compare ourselves to our competitors other than McLaren, it is not like we are having a shocking season.

"We are second in the constructors' [third after Canada], and as a matter of fact, this is not good enough, and we're not happy about that and we need to find what McLaren found. But we also need to be careful with everything going on around the team because sometimes that can change the perception of someone's season.

"McLaren is doing an outstanding job, and we are absolutely not happy with the situation we are in, but we just need to find ourselves as well, just like Mercedes and Red Bull need to find the outstanding thing McLaren has found."