Charles Leclerc has reiterated that Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 car possesses “much better potential” than has been seen to date, but still not enough to match McLaren.
Ferrari’s strong end to the previous campaign had witnessed it enter the current season expected to be engaged in a close battle with McLaren right at the sharp end.
But while that appeared poised to be the case when Leclerc topped FP2 in Australia, the Italian marque’s pace regressed as the season-opening weekend progressed.
Having languished seventh and eighth on the grid, Ferrari’s struggles in variable conditions and a strategic error culminated in the team attaining a meagre five points.
However, Leclerc, who crossed the line as the lead Ferrari in eighth, has continued to insist that the SF-25 machine is more competitive than was shown at Albert Park.
“There are many things that we can get that we can learn from this first weekend,” Leclerc said prior to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
“Obviously many things haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go but it’s only the first race of the season.
“We’ve learned many things since then and I’m sure that we’ll put all the bits together for this weekend and we’ll do a step forward.
“I remain convinced that the potential of the car is much better than what we have seen for that first weekend. But now we need to show that on track this weekend.”
Ferrari not on McLaren’s level
However, the Monegasque has conceded that even a more optimised version of the SF-25 wouldn’t trouble the ominous benchmark McLaren laid down last weekend.
“The team is very motivated to turn things around,” Leclerc expressed.
“During the off-season there was a lot of noise, but I don’t think we are on McLaren’s level at the moment. But we’re closer than what we have seen in Melbourne.”
Ferrari awaiting SF-25 upgrades
Leclerc has suggested that Ferrari will be dependent on the circuit characteristics suiting the squad’s package to get closer to McLaren until it can introduce updates.
Asked how big the expected step would take Ferrari, Leclerc replied: “It’s difficult to know, because I think now every little difference can have a big influence on track.
“Also I think the track layout can have a big influence on whether you’re fast or not.
“If you look at the last four or five races of last year, it was Mercedes dominating in Las Vegas, us very fast in Mexico, McLaren very fast in Abu Dhabi and that was basically the same car.
“At this point of the season you don’t really have any upgrades. So I think there are many factors that come into play. We need to stay calm.”
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