Leclerc downplays Lewis Hamilton verdict in Ferrari upgrade

Charles Leclerc arrives in the Sakhir paddock ahead of the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ferrari has arrived at the Bahrain GP with its first slew of upgrades for the SF-25 — and its drivers have very different perspectives on how those upgrades have performed.

While Lewis Hamilton was straightforward in saying the upgrades are “definitely working,” teammate Charles Leclerc wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.

Bahrain GP updates aren’t enough for Charles Leclerc

The start to the 2025 Formula 1 season hasn’t been an easy one for Scuderia Ferrari, with the team sitting fourth in the World Constructors’ Championship 76 points bereft of leader McLaren.

The first step to changing the pecking order has come this weekend, with the team introducing a slew of new parts to the SF-25.

Those changes include a redesigned floor, floor edges, and diffuser heading into Bahrain.

High temperatures and rookie drivers in FP1 made for mixed results, but as things settled down in FP2, it revealed a dismal picture: Charles Leclerc was the fastest of the two Ferraris in fourth, with Hamilton down in P8.

Nevertheless, Hamilton told media that “the upgrades are definitely working” for him.

He added, “It’s just good to see that we’re taking steps forward, and yeah, we’re trying to now extract more from it.

“I hope that we can make the right steps overnight.”

Over on the other side of the garage, Charles Leclerc painted a different picture.

Despite “trying to push into a direction that allows me to extract a bit more from the car,” the Monegasque driver admitted to media that “the potential of the car remains the same, and we’re just not fast enough.

“When we look at the McLaren, they are just on another planet for now. It’s annoying, but it is the way it is, and it actually motivates me to try and close that gap as soon as possible, but they are incredibly fast.”

When asked directly about the upgrades, he did agree that they had delivered what the team had promised, which Leclerc said was “positive.”

“But unfortunately, the gap to McLaren is still too big.”

The warm conditions in practice when compared to the temperatures during Bahrain’s pre-season test caused issues for much of the field, including Leclerc.

“Obviously you go into a session expecting the grip that you had at the test, and it’s completely different,” he explained.

“So we’ve got to readjust the car, and there will be a lot of work during the night to try and turn the situation around.”

And this upgrade issue isn’t just a Bahrain-specific problem; Leclerc foresees that Ferrari will need to focus on damage limitation until the car evolves.

“We’ve got to maximize the car potential that we have for now,” he said.

“If that means finishing fourth, third, fifth — I don’t know what that will be, but we’ll have to take it, and I hope at one point we’ll be back at being the fastest car on the track.

“There it will be a matter of maximizing the car again, but for wins and not for P3 anymore.”