Charles Leclerc didn’t sugarcoat it. Asked where on the calendar Ferrari might finally turn up with a stronger package than McLaren, he paused, then shrugged at the reality of 2025: “I don’t think there’s one track at the moment where we think we are stronger than McLaren.”
Hard to argue. McLaren has the sport by the throat heading into the summer break, four straight one-twos setting the tone of a season that briefly looked like a three-way scrap. Red Bull and Max Verstappen carried the title fight for a while, but the balance of power has shifted to Woking. Oscar Piastri leads the championship by nine points from Lando Norris; Verstappen sits 97 back, with Leclerc a further 36 adrift.
Hungary was supposed to be the opening Ferrari needed. Leclerc delivered their first pole of the year and, for a few laps on Sunday, the red car sat where it hasn’t much in 2025: in clean air, dictating pace. Then the McLarens rolled over the top. Norris beat Piastri to the flag for yet another one-two. Leclerc, shuffled to fourth, could only nod at the inevitability.
“Consistently, McLaren is going to be the strongest car this year,” he said. “Red Bull is a little bit more up and down, a bit like us and Mercedes, but there’s one constant, and that is McLaren. I don’t think we are going into the second half of the season thinking that we can win anywhere. I hope I’ll be surprised.”
Post-race, he doubled down. If there was a venue to bloody McLaren’s nose, it might have been Budapest. Track position and dirty air were the equalizers, not raw pace. “I think Oscar probably had a bit more pace than me, but couldn’t overtake,” Leclerc admitted. Translation: when Ferrari starts ahead, it can hang on. When it doesn’t, there’s nowhere to hide.
It’s not doom and gloom in Maranello. Ferrari still leads Mercedes by 24 points in the fight for second in the Constructors’ standings. But that’s not the prize this team measures itself by, and Leclerc knows it. The SF-25 has speed in bursts — just not the repeatable, all-conditions kind that’s made McLaren the year’s metronome.
The task for Ferrari after the break is clear: close the execution gap, pounce on the odd Saturday opportunity, and hope development lands a punch McLaren doesn’t see coming. Until then, the red cars are chasing orange shadows.
