Under the lights of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both left Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with more questions than answers, as Max Verstappen edged Oscar Piastri in a breathtaking battle for pole.
Leclerc frustrated despite a step forward for Ferrari
Leclerc secured fourth on the grid, but the Monegasque was left visibly frustrated, despite feeling he’d delivered a near-flawless lap.
“I’m not happy, I’m really not happy,” Leclerc admitted after the session. “I mean finishing P4 in a quali where the lap is really good I think. I put everything out there but for now, the performance of the car is just not there.”
While Ferrari introduced upgrades for the weekend, Leclerc suggested they hadn’t brought the step forward the team had hoped for.
“I mean I either have massive understeer or massive oversteer, but the end result is that I don’t have enough grip to reproduce what the guys in front do,” he explained.
“At the moment I feel good in the car, I think I found the sweet spot of the car that matches my driving style. I feel like in the last three qualifyings I managed to maximise the potential of the car, but the potential is just not yet at the level where I want it to be.”
When asked if the sizeable gap to the front three was surprising, Leclerc said it was in line with what Ferrari had seen so far this season.
“Stunned is maybe not the right word, but I think it’s the gap that we’ve seen since the beginning of the season. However I’m a bit disappointed here because we had, I think, few upgrades that should have helped for here, and the gap seems to be pretty similar to before.”
“It [the upgrade] does [work]. But unfortunately I feel like the others have done as much of a step which means that the gap hasn’t really changed.”
Hamilton leaves Qualifying with questions marks
On the other side of the garage, Lewis Hamilton’s tough start to the 2025 season continued. The seven-time world champion could only manage P7 in Qualifying and admitted he’s struggling to find harmony with his Ferrari.
“I don’t look at it like that, no,” Hamilton said when asked if seventh felt like a decent baseline. “I mean, it wasn’t good in practice, but I’m grateful to have put it through to Q3. Ultimately, lacking a lot of this. I’m just not gelling with the car at the moment.”
Hamilton had spoken positively ahead of the weekend about adjusting his driving style after the previous round, but conceded the changes hadn’t yielded results.
“I was feeling positive, obviously, after the last race and hoping that I could apply some of those things, but it’s not worked. So I’m going back to the drawing board and keep working.”
When pressed about the upgrades brought to the Ferrari SF-25 this weekend, Hamilton was quick to clarify.
“What upgrade?” he responded bluntly. “I haven’t got an upgrade this weekend. No, I don’t have an upgrade this weekend.
“I think they modified the wing, but it’s not an upgrade. It’s just we had some stalling.”
Hamilton also revealed the extent of his deficit through the data.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said when asked if he was shocked by the losses. “That was seven-tenths to McLaren. They’ve got an upgrade this weekend, and they’ve been massively quick through the first sector all weekend. But I just try not to think too much of it and just try to push.”
“[My] Q3 laps aren’t very good. Q3 laps were pretty poor. That’s like my worst laps at the moment, so I need to work on that.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, the Ferrari driver remained pragmatic.
“I’m going to just try and race and see if I can go forwards. If I can go forwards, that’d be great. If not, then you’ll be hopeful for something to happen to try and capitalise on. But just going to try to extract the most from the car and strategy.”
Despite the prolonged rough patch, Hamilton insisted he’s not giving up.
“I hope [a reset] does [help], but we’ll keep working. No matter what I try, I’m a long way off. But you don’t give up, you just keep trying.”
Asked if he’s faced anything like this in his career before, Hamilton paused. “I don’t remember.”
