The Jeddah Corniche Circuit produced a small ray of optimism for Scuderia Ferrari at the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc achieved a hard-fought third-place finish, which gave Ferrari its first Grand Prix podium of the season. The Tifosi received a welcome relief from their disappointing start to the year, with Leclerc holding on but Hamilton again struggling.
Charles Leclerc himself admitted that he “never expected” the podium finish, calling it a “dream result” given the current state of the Ferrari cars and this disappointing start to the season. Leclerc’s race was an example of both his driving ability and the SF-25’s race pace. A long first stint on the medium tires allowed Leclerc to have fresh rubber in the latter stages of the race, which allowed him to pass George Russell and defend the onslaught in the final handful of laps from McLaren’s Lando Norris.
“I was extremely happy with the lap yesterday; I was very happy with the race today,” Charles Leclerc said after yesterday’s race at Jeddah. “I think we maximised absolutely everything so I’m very proud of what we’ve done, now we just need to improve the car in order to be fighting a bit further up.”
The entire Ferrari team was elated for the great run by Leclerc on Sunday, including team principal Fred Vasseur who was happy for his driver but also realizes his team still has much work to do in order to be more competitive with McLaren.
“We must keep working and developing to improve as soon as possible,” Vasseur said post-race. “We certainly have weak points, especially in qualifying, because on Sundays we’re competitive. It’s not about individuals, but the entire team—we’re all in the same boat.”
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Leclerc is still unhappy with his car’s performance
The jubilation was tempered by Leclerc’s candid assessment of Ferrari’s persistent Achilles’ heel: qualifying form. Although he had a good race, he said that their poor qualifying performance on Saturday means they cannot “fight for wins”.
“It’s always been one of my strengths, but for now, I cannot do more than P4,” Leclerc said, citing a lack of “grip” in qualifying. He believes that if Ferrari could start from the front, the story of their weekends would be “very different”, which suggests that the underlying race car is capable of fighting at the highest level.
Leclerc pinpointed a key area where Ferrari is currently lacking compared to their rivals: downforce.
He feels that McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes all have an advantage in this important aerodynamic area. While he acknowledged that Scuderia Ferrari’s tire management was a strength in Saudi Arabia, allowing them to be a step better in the race, the downforce deficit continues to affect their qualifying performance. This lack of ultimate grip when pushing to the limit in qualifying is where “things aren’t clicking for us at the moment,” according to Leclerc.
“In qualifying, I still feel like we can hide that a little bit by doing a few tricks, but then once you are in the race, no grip is no grip,” Leclerc said. “It’s more degradation. So, it’s a snowball effect once you’re in the race. It’s a bit trickier in the race.”
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Ferrari cheers tempered by Hamilton’s struggles
The contrasting fortunes within the Ferrari garage in Jeddah also highlight the team’s complexity. While Leclerc celebrated on the podium, Lewis Hamilton had another tough race and finished in seventh place. The seven-time World Champion admitted that he was “fighting the car every corner,” lacked grip and balance throughout the race. Hamilton’s struggles were evident as he qualified six-tenths slower than Leclerc and finished over 30 seconds behind his teammate. He described his race pace as disastrous and confessed to having no pace at all.
“It was horrible, not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around. It’s pretty bad,” Hamilton said. “At the moment there is no fix so this is how it’s going to be for the rest or the year. It’s going to be painful.”
Despite his driver’s struggles, Vasseur vehemently defended Hamilton when media questioned asked how the legendary drive had “fallen off” so dramatically.
“It’s not dramatically. We did five races so far. I know that you want to have the big headlines tomorrow that ‘Fred said this’,” Vassuer barked. “But this is f*cking bull**it. At the end of the day, we are in competition. You have ups and downs.”
Both Leclerc and Hamilton are set to return to Ferrari’s Maranello factory to work on improving the car, with a specific focus on their qualifying issues. Vasseur remained firm in his support of Hamilton, ruling out the possibility of a dramatic decline in form and asserting that they’re far from giving up. Vasseur emphasized the importance of maintaining consistency from Friday practice through to qualifying to secure better starting positions. He believes that to balance the car and how Hamilton works, the tires are the two key areas for improvement. Ferrari’s strategy is to focus on Saturday’s performance to reach its full potential on Sundays.
In the bigger picture, Ferrari’s deficit to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship is massive and will be hard — if not impossible, to make up. While mathematically the title fight is still open, the reality is stark. One report put it aptly: “Unless there’s a complete turnaround, the championship already seems out of reach.” It seems almost utopian for the team to achieve the level of consistent front-row lockouts needed to bridge the points deficit.
Charles Leclerc’s podium victory in Saudi Arabia demonstrates real progress in Ferrari’s continued focus on execution and getting better week in, week out. The team has demonstrated the ability to handle tires effectively and maintain a lot of pace on the longer runs, which is crucial. Despite that, the qualifying issues persist and the fundamental lack of downforce compared to their rivals means they still have to solve these problems to compete regularly for wins.
With new upgrades on the way, the next few races, starting with Miami next weekend, will be crucial in determining whether Ferrari can convert their Saturday potential into Sunday’s results and revive their championship hopes. The Jeddah podium is just the morale boost the team needs, but the actual work of closing the performance gap remains a significant challenge.
