Following his sensational lap in Saturday's qualifying which saw Charles Leclerc claim a shock pole position for Ferrari, the Monegasque endured a heartbreaking result at the Hungarian Grand Prix despite his impressive pace during his first two stints of the race. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis in his column branded as F1MATHS.
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Yeah pace this weekend was not bad relative to the last two but still not enough. Nice that Leclerc gained one position at least, no slower cars ahead of him. And great recovery from Hamilton
Yeah pace this weekend was not bad relative to the last two but still not enough. Nice that Leclerc gained one position at least, no slower cars ahead of him. And great recovery from Hamilton
Yea Ferrari had a lot of pace this weekend, Leclerc troubled Norris for a long time. Shame lewis didnt have another set of hards but he was rapid today too, good recovery like you said
Yup Leclerc got his wish - good race for the team to end on, even if the season is more bitter than sweet they can at least end on decent morale across both cars
Leclerc has a lot to be proud of this season on his end even if it was mostly drives for P4, P3
Also just want to give props to Ferrari, since they get dogged for it, for doing a strategy with lewis not suggested from Pirelli's own possible tire strats and making it work well
Excellent race by Leclerc. The fact that he stayed very close to Norris's pace for much of the race cannot be underestimated. Also a good recovery race from Hamilton.
That said, may the SF-25 go straight to the junkyard where it belongs. 2025 was a season far below expectations for Ferrari and now all that's left is to pray that Ferrari has a competitive car for 2026.
I feel that a bad season next year for Ferrari could be doubly disastrous because it could make Leclerc finally give up and look for something better with another team, and also guarantee Hamilton's retirement. Then Ferrari would have to look for two drivers for 2027.
Losing Leclerc purely due to bad results would be a huge embarrassment, which will be even greater if Charles actually manages to achieve better results with another team.
Last edited by edu2703 on 07 Dec 2025, 18:03, edited 1 time in total.
Leclerc: The whole team is hugely motivated for next year. It's a huge opportunity to show what we're capable of. And it's really now or never to start on the right foot, because the first year will set the tone for the whole four years after. The first six and seven races will be especially important.
I wonder if the 7 races is referring to what he says before (setting the tone).. or if it's his own thoughts about potentially looking at other teams
The very fact that LeClerc got into the DRS of Norris, says a lot about his ability. He nearly lost it through S3 and S1 many times, still got his T5 absolutely perfect and stayed in DRS. The difference between the two cars is a giant chasm, impressive performance (was much faster than Mercedes even) given how they put together the car through the weekend. Anyway, we have seen the end of this turd-car.
Leclerc definitely gave it his all here, just like he did 12 months ago. Car let him down big time. Entering 12 was horrible on worn tires, you literally couldn’t really do anything against that. McLaren smoothly preparing for 13 while Leclerc cranking it full lock almost and barely staying on track.
SF25 is probably one of the most disappointing Ferraris of recent times. To follow the almost WCC SF24 so badly certainly leaves a bad taste. Charles deserved better. I hope he gets a car worthy of his skill next year.
The car was clearly much better here than previous races, even Hamilton was able to cruise up the order. Given SF-24 was good around here it's not that surprising.