Charles Leclerc claims Ferrari’s upgrades are ‘always overhyped’

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s upgrades are always “hyped up a lot” after qualifying third at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Ferrari have brought a revised rear suspension to Belgium and the upgrade was tipped as being a potential turning point in what has been a hugely underwhelming 2025 campaign so far.

Despite Ferrari finding gains with the updated suspension, they are still lagging well behind F1’s current pacesetters McLaren.

Although Leclerc impressively pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to third by just 0.003s, he was over four tenths adrift of Lando Norris, who claimed pole position.

“We expected to be P4 but with a significant gap in front. At the end, the gap is still significant, but a little bit less than what we initially expected, so I think that's positive,” Leclerc said.

"We brought upgrades this weekend, which have been working since the beginning, but we had to do some fine-tunings from yesterday to today and it's going in the right direction, so I'm very happy.

“I think it was also a really, really good lap, so I don't think I left much on the table with the potential that we had today. So for that, I'm happy as well. However, it's only P3, so now we'll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Ferrari’s upgrade ‘hyped up a lot’

Leclerc downplayed the significance of the upgrade prior to the weekend getting underway and once again moved to temper expectations surrounding Ferrari’s competitiveness.

“I think, as always, and especially for our team, everything is hyped up a lot,” Leclerc added.

“Yes, it's an upgrade and it's a step in the right direction, but we are still speaking about very fine differences of a whole lap. So it feels a little bit different and it's going in the right direction and again, that's thanks to the hard work that the whole team has done back at the factory.

“Unfortunately for us, McLaren has also brought a few things this weekend and seem to have done a small step in the right direction as well, so it's very difficult to close the gap. But I think we are doing a good job as a team and we just need to keep working.”

Asked if it will be enough to challenge McLaren going forward, Leclerc replied: “Compared to the McLaren, I think we are probably average three, four tenths behind in qualifying. We'll do a step forward.

"I don't think, though, that we'll find those three, four tenths in that upgrade. But it will help us to get closer, and I think the more we use it, the more we'll be able to maximise this, and there'll be some more potential to gain.

“But no, I don't think it's enough to be able to challenge the McLaren consistently from now on.”

Leclerc did at least confirm that the revised rear suspension is giving him more comfort and confidence in the SF-25.

"It's a little bit better, and I think that's what helped me also a little bit this weekend, to be a bit more consistent,” he explained.

“The lap times in qualifying, I think both yesterday in sprint qualifying and today in qualifying came together a bit easier, and that's been my strength normally. But this year, I've been struggling a little bit more to put everything together coming qualifying.

“This weekend seems to be better, but we just need to prove that over multiple race weekends, because also, the grip this weekend here is incredible. There's so much grip, but that's not only for us, I think for everybody. So generally, this makes it easier. So we'll have to prove that on a track that is a bit trickier.”

Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton’s nightmare weekend continued, with the seven-time world champion set to start Sunday’s grand prix from a lowly 16th after having his fastest lap time deleted for track limits in Q1.