Heading into the F1 Canadian GP, Charles Leclerc shared his insights into the external pressure that Ferrari have recently encountered and their battle with Mercedes for second in the Constructors’ standings.
The Italian F1 media has been preoccupied with the Scuderia lately, with several prominent publications calling into question the current leadership and trajectory of the team amidst their staggering underperformance in the first half of the 2025 season.
While team principal Fred Vasseur has addressed speculations about his potential exit from Ferrari at the end of the year, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have faced similar queries with regard to the internal turmoil and shortcomings of the team.
Ferrari fell short of the Constructors’ crown in 2024 by only 14 points. Unfortunately, their 2025 campaign so far has been shaky at best, and the Italian marque now sits third in the championship table behind McLaren and Mercedes.
Leclerc claims external pressure has no impact on Ferrari’s quest for success
Speaking in a print media session ahead of the Canadian GP, Charles Leclerc opened up about whether the external pressure that Ferrari find themselves under stems from their unique status on the F1 grid.
Stating that the pressure to perform is intrinsic whilst working for the historic Scuderia, the Monégasque remarked that the squad already holds itself to a high standard when it comes to delivering their best on track.
Although he admitted that the rumours circulating about the personnel can be a source of nuisance, Leclerc maintained that the external factors exert no additional pressure on their performance. Moreover, emphasising how the team is well aware of its current shortfalls, he asserted that Ferrari are concentrating their efforts into getting back to winning ways.
“I mean, we are already putting ourselves under a lot of pressure. Then, of course, there are some talks that it’s not something that you want to hear. But the pressure is normal to have it when you are working for Ferrari.
“Second is never good enough, but we are all aware of it. So it’s not like the outside pressure is having any influence on the pressure that we put [on] ourselves first.
“We want to be winning, and as I keep saying, it’s not good enough. But I’m not the only one to say that. All the team knows that it’s not good enough and that Ferrari should be winning, and that’s what we are putting all our efforts into, is to try and bring Ferrari back to the top.”
Leclerc used to media scrutiny after years at Ferrari
Acknowledging McLaren’s edge over the rest of the field, the eight-time race winner also accepted that the ball is in their court in terms of how the rest of the season unfolds.
While he admitted that he has grown accustomed to the intense media scrutiny as a now-seasoned member of Ferrari, Charles Leclerc added that it’s imperative for the team to disregard the off-track chatter and focus on their own progress.
The 27-year-old also disclosed how he finds it tricky to address speculations that pertain to other members of the team. Nonetheless, he conceded that the invasive F1 media is part and parcel of a career at Ferrari and that they simply have to cope with it.
“At the moment, McLaren is the stronger team, and it’s up to us to react.
“We definitely need to forget everything about what is said around the team. But I think that’s something I got used to with the years.
“Obviously, there are times where you’ve got more rumours to deal with than mostly with you, because the questions are obviously directed into certain topics, and it’s not always a nice thing to do, but I understand it.
“And at the end of the day, that’s how Ferrari is and has always been. So you’ve got to deal with it. But I don’t think we are affected by it.”
Upgrades will determine the outcome of battle between Ferrari and Mercedes
With regard to Ferrari’s battle with Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ Championship and what the strengths of the respective teams are, Charles Leclerc highlighted how their struggles become apparent on different days of a race weekend. Furthermore, he noted that the team which can remedy an issue faster during a difficult session has the upper hand in the head-to-head battle at present.
Stating that their deficit to the leaders has remained reasonably steady throughout this first half of the 2025 F1 season, Leclerc surmised that the Brackley-based team is currently more inconsistent than Ferrari in terms of stringing every race weekend together.
Nonetheless, the 27-year-old proclaimed that the efficacy, or lack thereof, of their upcoming upgrades will determine which team ultimately earns the status of runners-up in the Constructors’ standings at the end of the year.
“I mean, it’s strange, because we’ve got very opposite issues. I feel like they are strong in qualifying, they are struggling in the race. We are weak in qualifying, and we are strong in the race.
“So at the moment, whoever is the first to find out what’s going on in the session where we are not going well, will win that battle.
“I feel like maybe Mercedes is a little bit more up and down compared to us. We’ve been consistently more or less at the same distance to the guys in front. Mercedes already had their very good weekends, and also their weekends where they’ve been particularly poor. But we are doing some small steps in the right direction.
“I think eventually what will dictate who will win is the updates, the upgrades that we are going to bring. I don’t have any answers for now on how I think we will go with those.”
