Leclerc pours cold water on Ferrari’s 2025 win hopes: “Very unlikely”
Charles Leclerc isn’t dressing it up. With seven rounds to go and Ferrari slipping to third in the Constructors’ after Baku, the Monegasque doesn’t see a grand prix win on the horizon this season. Not with McLaren setting the pace, not with Red Bull and Mercedes already on the board, and not with Ferrari still searching for a Sunday it can truly own.
Asked in Singapore whether he believed Ferrari could snatch a victory before the flag drops on 2025, Leclerc didn’t blink. “I think it’s very unlikely,” he said. “Unfortunately, the McLaren is also very strong when it’s warm. So compared to our main competitors, we might be stronger; so against the Mercedes I think we have chances to be stronger on those races… however, compared to McLaren, I don’t think we’ll ever have the upper hand compared to them.”
That’s the mood right now in red: pragmatic, bordering on fatalistic. Ferrari’s SF-25 has had flashes—Leclerc’s second place behind Lando Norris in Monaco being the standout—but flashes don’t win championships, and they haven’t won Sundays either. Lewis Hamilton’s Chinese sprint victory aside, the Scuderia remain the only team in the top four without a grand prix win in 2025.
McLaren’s authority is the backdrop to all of this. The papaya cars have had the best baseline package more often than not, and when they don’t, they’re still there. Red Bull and Mercedes have nicked races, Max Verstappen remains an outside factor in the Drivers’ fight, and Ferrari’s found itself boxed into the role of persistent threat without the killer punch. That’s a frustrating place for a team that opened the year loudly and has spent the summer searching.
The numbers don’t flatter them either. After 17 races, Leclerc sits fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, and while Ferrari’s points haul keeps them in the fight with Mercedes—just a handful of points the difference—the momentum has shifted the wrong way since Azerbaijan. Hamilton, still acclimatising in his first season with the Scuderia, hasn’t stood on a Sunday podium yet. That isn’t the homecoming either party had storyboarded.
Leclerc’s read on the calendar is blunt but fair. There are circuits to come that should suit Ferrari more than others, particularly if track temps play in their favour and the car’s balance lands inside its narrow window. That might be enough to jump Mercedes on merit at certain venues. What he can’t see—what few in the paddock can see—is Ferrari having outright pace over McLaren on any given weekend without external chaos lending a hand.
If you’re looking for hope, it sits in the margins. Variability. Strategy. Tyre life. Safety cars. Ferrari have executed weekends well enough this year to be ever-present near the front when the picture scrambles. And in Singapore, where track evolution can rewrite Friday’s form, they’ll need all of that to turn pessimism into points. The Constructors’ fight with Mercedes is still very real, and McLaren could even clinch the title here if things fall their way, which would lend a colder edge to Ferrari’s final run-in.
The internal tone, at least publicly, is now about banking what’s left and learning what matters. Leclerc’s comments aren’t resignation; they’re a line in the sand. Ferrari knows exactly who sets the benchmark and in which conditions they’re beaten. That clarity is useful with development direction and a congested midfield breathing down their necks whenever they blink.
It’s also a quiet challenge to the garage: make the SF-25 predictable, give the drivers a car they can lean on when the night air stays heavy and hot, and the odds start to bend. Leclerc’s not betting on a win, but he hasn’t stopped hunting podiums either. Those still change seasons—and perceptions.
For now, the headline is simple: Ferrari don’t expect a fairy tale to close out 2025. If they’re going to author a twist, it’ll be with grit and opportunism, not raw pace. And if Singapore is another reminder of the current pecking order, expect the knives to go back into the factory, not the press room. The real fight for Maranello may have already pivoted to 2026.
