Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur shared his insights into Charles Leclerc’s self-critical attitude, his qualifying performance, and the set-up direction he has taken with the SF-25 following the Monégasque’s point-less Sunday at the rain-swept F1 British GP.
Despite topping the timesheets in the final hour of practice at Silverstone, Leclerc failed to extract the maximum over a single lap in qualifying. He only managed to set the sixth-fastest time behind his teammate in Q3.
Leclerc’s fortunes only took a turn for the worse the next day when he decided to gamble on a risky strategy and bolt on the slick tyres on the formation lap. His race never really recovered, and after a couple of off-track excursions in the treacherous wet conditions, he took the chequered flag in a lowly fourteenth place.
Vasseur very appreciative of Leclerc taking responsibility for his mistakes
Charles Leclerc was particularly self-critical after he underperformed in qualifying for the F1 British GP. While acknowledging that he has fared well in the races so far, the 27-year-old lamented how he hasn’t been able to demonstrate his usual prowess over a flying lap this season.
Speaking in a print media session after the race, Fred Vasseur weighed in on whether Leclerc’s statement was merely an overreaction on the part of a highly self-critical driver after a disappointing performance.
Emphasising how Leclerc never shies away from accountability after committing mistakes, Vasseur was quick to point out that the Ferrari driver has a tendency to berate himself excessively at times. At the same time, the Frenchman also acknowledged how such candid behaviour allows the team to move forward without looking for answers in the wrong places.
“You know Charles [Leclerc] for probably 10 years or so.
“One of the qualities of Charles is that he’s able to blame himself. One of the faults of Charles is that sometimes he blames himself a bit too much.
“And as a team I appreciate a lot the fact that the driver can say, ‘okay, it’s my mistake’. This is positive because it’s not bringing the team in the wrong direction. They are human, they are doing mistakes as everybody, and it’s good to have the drivers able to say this.”
Vasseur unwilling to ask Leclerc to trade off race results for better qualifying potential
In terms of whether Charles Leclerc has genuinely been subpar in qualifying in the first half of the 2025 F1 season, Fred Vasseur noted that it’s a nuanced situation after his underwhelming performance at the British GP.
Highlighting how Leclerc has made further progress with regard to honing his race pace, the 57-year-old explained that the set-up direction that allows the eight-time race winner to excel over a full race distance makes it rather challenging to maximise the car’s potential in qualifying.
Furthermore, referring to the flak Leclerc used to receive over his pole-to-win ratio a couple of years ago, Vasseur proclaimed that it’s unreasonable to ask the Monégasque to revert to old ways after they had pushed him to prioritise his results on Sundays.
“On the second part of your question, he [Leclerc] did a real step forward in terms of race pace. Perhaps also with the setup of the car, it’s going in the direction of being more difficult for the quali.
“But I remember perfectly that two years ago we were telling him, Charles, that we are scoring points on Sunday. Let’s be more focused on the set-up on Sunday, because it’s Sunday that we are scoring points. In ’23, we did 5 or 6 pole positions and 0 win for Charles.
“And we were pushing him in this direction. Now we can’t tell him, please go back to the previous situation.”
