Charles Leclerc downplays impact of Ferrari’s much-hyped upgrade

Charles Leclerc has downplayed the significance of Ferrari’s much-hyped upgrade that is set to debut at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Ferrari have brought a revised rear suspension to Spa-Francorchamps as part of a recent upgrade push to improve the SF-25 following an underwhelming first half of the 2025 F1 season.

The Italian team first ran the updated rear suspension during a filming day at Mugello last week but Leclerc insisted he did not notice a difference in behaviour during his outing.

"We did not [feel a difference] and I'm not going to comment the specific behaviours of this suspension,” Leclerc told media including Crash.net on Thursday.

"Obviously, these are things that remain for us and it would be quite stupid for us to comment it globally on what does what. But we'll find out tomorrow on track.

"I don't think [it will change how we set up the car]. I can find the confidence if I set up the car in a different way. So, if I need confidence, I'll go for that.

"But for now, I prefer to go for performance rather than confidence. It doesn't always pay off and I think we've seen it last race weekend in Silverstone, where obviously I had my struggles, which were pretty big on the wet.

"And I know that this is the risk of running such an extreme set-up. I don't think this will improve with that because we still need to set up the car in a relatively similar position in order to extract the maximum out of it. But I'm happy to follow that path.”

Meanwhile, Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton stressed the car felt “the same as before.”

Leclerc puzzled by Ferrari’s wet-weather weakness

Leclerc acknowledged Ferrari’s car struggles in wet conditions following his difficult run to 14th in the British Grand Prix.

And with rain forecast to impact race day in Belgium, Leclerc is wary about Ferrari’s prospects.

"Obviously seeing the forecast for this weekend maybe we do some compromises to be faster in the wet but there's some work and a lot of work in the background to try and turn the situation around in wet conditions because we've been struggling massively since many years now,” he explained.

“I mean I wish I knew 100% from where it's coming from but I think when it's like this it's not one thing but it's a combination of factors that when added up especially in tricky conditions makes it very very difficult.

“Rain actually has always been my probably my biggest strength from junior categories but I have to say that since when I arrived in Ferrari I kind of lost a lot of that strength and struggled massively. We are trying to put the finger on where or from where it's coming from but for now we haven't yet found it.”

“You cannot really design a car for wet conditions but for one reason or another the way our car is makes it the driving in the wet particularly difficult.”