Charles Leclerc believes he is performing at his best and rates his current 2025 F1 season highly, suggesting he has become a more complete driver and has consistently maximised the points available for Ferrari.
The Monegasque driver has enjoyed a consistent and strong campaign, avoiding significant errors that have hampered him in the past. Despite this personal growth, Leclerc acknowledged the frustration of not having a car capable of challenging for race victories, with McLaren often holding a significant performance advantage.
Speaking about his year in a print media session at the F1 Italian GP, Leclerc felt it was a very strong one from a personal standpoint since joining the Scuderia in 2019.
“High [rating], but it’s always very difficult to judge a season because all the seasons are different. But obviously my goal as a driver is to grow and I feel like I’ve done that compared to last year. That I’ve been a lot more complete since the beginning of the year.”
Maximising a Difficult Situation
A key aspect of Leclerc’s satisfaction comes from his consistency. Throughout the year he has extracted strong results, even on weekends where the Ferrari package has not been the strongest. This has been a notable step forward in his development as a top-tier driver in the last couple of years.
He elaborated on this point, highlighting the lack of mistakes.
“And I don’t think there’s been many weekends where I’ve been off or where I’ve done a mistake that cost me and the team a lot of points. I think we’ve done a really good job at maximising all the points.”
This ability to bring home solid points finishes will be critical for Ferrari in its fight for 2nd position in the Constructors’ Championship. The team relies on this dependability when it cannot compete on pure pace.
Frustration with the performance gap
While pleased with his own performance, Leclerc could not hide the difficulty of judging his ultimate F1 potential when stuck in a no-man’s-land on track. He described the car’s performance as being caught between the front-runners and the midfield, which limits opportunities for exciting battles and big results.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the car so it’s also harder to judge as well when you are in the middle of nowhere,” he explained. “What I mean by that is that sometimes McLaren is in a league of their own. Either we are in the middle or a little bit behind, but there’s nothing exciting to fight for.”
For any driver, the ultimate measure is success at the front. Leclerc made it clear this is his immediate ambition.
“And I think the ultimate test for a driver is to be fighting for wins, which I hope will be the case soon.”
Peak performance and the Hamilton test
Leclerc feels he is currently at the top of his game but remains focused on continuous improvement. His current form is exceptional when you consider he has seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton in the other car. He is 46 points ahead in the standings, and leads the Brit 12-2 and 12-4 in the race and qualifying head-to-head at present.
“But I feel like I am obviously performing at my best at the moment. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to improve. Obviously, I’m working to get better and better every year,” Leclerc commented.
For Leclerc, this consistent and almost error-free year to date is the perfect platform to show his quality. He is proving he can lead the team and maximise results in a less-than-perfect car.
“But yeah, and then we’ll see at the end of the year. But yeah, I rate this season very high.”
