Charles Leclerc says the ability of the SF-25 to handle kerbs and bumps was behind the surprising performance of Ferrari at the F1 2025 Monaco GP, as the racer reveals the secret to their success in Monte Carlo.
The Italian team came into this weekend with their spirits low following early season struggles that have seem them lack pace compared to McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes.
However, they shocked the cards at the Circuit de Monaco when the 27-year-old started lighting up the timing boards throughout the Free Practice sessions, whilst his times were also backed up by Lewis Hamilton too.
The Scuderia found themselves thrust into the fight for pole, and de facto for the win, but were narrowly beaten to the punch by Lando Norris, who sealed the front spot on Saturday and duly converted it on Sunday.
Nonetheless, Maranello still managed to bring home second and fifth on track as Hamilton gained two spots from seventh and Leclerc finished as the runner-up, and the latter reveals the secret reason behind the success of Ferrari at the F1 2025 Monaco GP.
“I think on a track like this,” Leclerc told media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “With so many bumps and kerbs, our car is actually performing very well.
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“This is helping us, but unfortunately, it’s only going to help us on such an extreme track like here. So yeah, we’ve got to work on our low-speed performance.”
It’s an impressive result for the team as they bid to figure out their confusing and unpredictable SF-25 car with the ambition of getting back into the Formula 1 title fight against Norris and Oscar Piastri.
They will now take some momentum into the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, run from May 30-June 1, but the 27-year-old warns there are still major things for them to improve upon.
“By far, the slow-speed corners,” Leclerc added, of the car’s deficiency. “I think this is our biggest weakness by far.
“That’s why also I came here very pessimistic and saying that I thought top 10 would already be a challenge. Our low-speed performance is very poor.”
Leclerc: No chance to pass Norris for Ferrari at Monaco GP
The FIA introduced a plan to force drivers to make two pit stops at the F1 2025 Monaco GP, in a bid to add a bit of jeopardy and risk to a usually dull one-stopper with cars following in a single file train.
And it had some modest success down the order by creating an interesting strategic battle to follow, whilst some teams such as Williams and Racing Bulls even weaponised their drivers to game the rules to secure double points finishes.
But not too much changed as far as the front was concerned as McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull mirrored each other’s strategies for the majority of the event, until Max Verstappen tried a new approach.
Running in fourth, the four-time champion looked to go long to cash in on a red flag that would have handed him a free tyre change and the lead of the race, thus control, even if he still had to stop again.
He then used his position to begin backing Norris, his title rival, off into Leclerc to let the Ferrari driver try to overtake him for the lead and put the McLaren under pressure in general.
Ultimately, the Brit managed to hold on and win when Verstappen pitted eventually, and the man from Monaco explained why he didn’t go for it as he couldn’t quite find the room to make an overtake.
“It’s very difficult,” Leclerc said. “When Max at the end was in front, I really believed in it until the very end.
“I thought about it all night, the two or three places where I could try something on Lando, and I was willing to take all the risks possible to try and get that win. But, unfortunately, these opportunities never came.
“Or at least I had maybe two or three laps where I was like, “OK, maybe I go for it,” but Lando straight away saw those and defended very well.
“So, I basically couldn’t really go and try something. At the end, there were no opportunities for me.”
