The eighteen factors earned on the Suzuka circuit doubled the full Ferrari had collected within the earlier two rounds of the 2025 System 1 season, in Melbourne and Shanghai. Charles Leclerc, in fourth, crossed the end line forward of the 2 Mercedes W16 vehicles, with a spot of 16 seconds to Max Verstappen after 53 laps. This was the marginally constructive facet of the weekend in the Japanese Grand Prix, however the total end result nonetheless fell far wanting the Maranello staff’s targets. After the occasions in China, it was essential to deliver dwelling a extra stable end result, however combining Charles Leclerc’s placement with Lewis Hamilton’s seventh place was actually no purpose for celebration.
The Monegasque driver described a two-sided actuality: on one hand, the satisfaction of getting accomplished a weekend the place he was capable of extract every little thing from the automobile; on the opposite, the attention that even extracting every little thing was not sufficient to succeed in the rostrum. The query mark remained over the place to search for the lacking efficiency. In accordance with Staff Principal Frederic Vasseur, the race to deliver upgrades is just not a precedence over gaining a deeper understanding of the automobile—a coverage that paid off final 12 months, supplied the Maranello staff recognized the areas the place the automobile was missing. On this entrance, Charles Leclerc’s remarks appeared much less satisfied, and it appeared that, for him, what was seen at Suzuka is all of the automobile can at present supply.
In his function, Charles Leclerc emerged from the Japanese spherical in a great gentle. His robust qualifying lap on Saturday served as a springboard that he made essentially the most of to remain forward of the Mercedes duo, a end result that had not been assured going into the Suzuka weekend. Ferrari selected to separate methods: the Monegasque driver began on medium tyres, whereas his Maranello teammate on hards, however the distinction in efficiency was minimal, additionally as a result of a observe that was surprisingly straightforward on tyres because of the brand new observe floor.
Charles Leclerc mentioned it had been a considerably solitary race for him. He acknowledged that fourth place couldn’t be a satisfying end result, however pointed to the positives of the weekend, such because the work executed on Friday on setup adjustments and the teachings realized, which might be helpful in upcoming races. The 27-year-old believed progress had been made, however burdened the significance of staying centered and persevering with to work with out speeding selections, particularly as a result of the highest groups nonetheless had a transparent benefit in race tempo. For now, he mentioned, the staff wanted to focus on maximizing the factors haul, one thing they managed to do on Sunday.
An optimization that Lewis Hamilton this time missed. Qualifying proved decisive for the weekend’s final result, and the Briton, who began eighth, managed to achieve just one place, overtaking Isack Hadjar. The seven-time System 1 world champion admitted it had been a troublesome race and mentioned they didn’t have the tempo to battle with the highest three, which was one thing the staff would work arduous on for the following races. He added that, on his half, he had chosen a setup that was typically good, however didn’t present the tempo he would have wanted on observe.
In actuality, Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the tempo to battle even the opposite Mercedes, who completed fifth and sixth. On lap 32 (after the pit cease), he was seven-tenths behind Kimi Antonelli, and by the chequered flag the hole had grown to eleven seconds.
Frederic Vasseur commented on the finish of the weekend that the end result mirrored what had been seen in qualifying. With the automobile that they had, they most likely couldn’t have executed extra. The French supervisor acknowledged that they had been struggling in some areas and wanted to maintain working to extract extra efficiency from the automobile forward of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He famous that they knew there was room for enchancment and wanted to deal with the automobile’s steadiness and tyre administration.
The Ferrari staff principal defined that that they had adopted precisely the identical strategy final 12 months. They’d been six tenths off the tempo and managed to get well through the season, which meant they needed to preserve the identical mindset. The Frenchman identified that the hole and the present outcomes didn’t matter—what issues is doing a greater job the next week to enhance each the automobile’s potential and their capability to extract that potential, together with its operation and efficiency.
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