28/04/2025
NEWS STORY
Despite a lacklustre start to the season, Charles Leclerc insists that Ferrari must not give up on its 2025 title hopes in order to concentrate on 2026.
Saudi Arabia, round five of a 24 race season, marked the Maranello outfit's first podium of the year, other than Lewis Hamilton's Sprint win in China.
On Sunday in Shanghai, having finished fifth and sixth, both drivers were disqualified, Leclerc for his car being underweight, and Hamilton for excessive wear to his plank.
Thus, the Jeddah podium leaves Ferrari fourth in the standings, 110 points adrift of McLaren.
Following the introduction of a new floor in Bahrain, further updates appeared on the SF-25 in Jeddah, but despite that podium it is still too early to know if the team is heading in the right direction, especially with Hamilton's difficult start to the season.
However, fearing that the Maranello outfit may give up on the current season and throw its weight behind its 2026 contender, Leclerc has called on Ferrari to think again.
"It's still a long season and we shouldn't give up for sure," he said, according to Motorsport Week. "We are going to push until the very end, but I think one can go with the other as well.
"We very often say, let's switch to next year's car straight away. I think these kinds of things are more and more with the new structures in Formula 1, they can go parallel to one another.
"I don't think you can be extreme in one way or the other," he added. "So it doesn't mean that we are only focusing on this season, forgetting about next season, or vice versa. We are trying to do the best in both worlds, we'll see where that leads us.
"Then, of course, as soon as the chances of a championship this year is not possible anymore, it probably makes sense to fully focus on '26."
Anticipating further upgrades at Imola and then in Spain, the Monegasque insists that even if Ferrari does switch focus he will remain as committed and determined on this season as ever.
"For me it's not really a challenge," he said. "I mean I am always fully motivated to extract the maximum out of my car, no matter where that brings me.
"Of course, you are always disappointed when you do everything perfect and the best result achievable is P4," he admitted. "But then you go back into the car the next race and, at least for me, I still have the full motivation to try and do something special and to maybe win a race with a car that is less good than the people around me.
"That's where I find my motivation is to try to outperform whenever I can, so motivation won't be a problem."