Charles Leclerc feels he maximised in F1 Saudi Arabian GP after scoring a surprise podium, as Frederic Vasseur stresses on improving quali pace.
Ferrari’s Leclerc made sure to point out that he maximised the performance on Saturday in F1 Saudi Arabian GP by qualifying fourth when teammate Lewis Hamilton was lower down the order in the Top 10. The maximum hope for Sunday was to finish where he started or if better, to finish third.
He managed to do the latter after clearing George Russell and keeping Lando Norris at bay. The first stint on the medium tyre did the job as he was able to extend his stint. He followed it up with good pace on the hard compound, to keep the McLaren driver off him.
Leclerc took home Ferrari’s first main podium of F1 2025 but it was the maximum he could have done, he said. “I feel like we’ve maximised absolutely everything we could have in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “There wasn’t anything more in the car. The car just felt good. To be honest, I was struggling a lot when I was behind George with the car balance – a lot of understeer – and I hate that.
“As soon as he pitted, the front came alive and the car felt a lot better. Then I could manage the fronts a little bit better, and the performance came much better once I was in free air. In the race, the good car balance had results. Everything else was perfectly executed. Strategy was great. Pit stops have been great the whole season and also the whole of last year as well.
“There wasn’t much more we could have done. As for Lando, [I was afraid but] a little I knew it was going to be tight. He was very quick. I wasn’t worried, but I knew it was going to be close. I didn’t know what to expect with the traffic. At one point, I had to avoid, I think, Bortoleto and I went in the marbles – lost a lot of time.
“Lando nearly got into my DRS range, which would’ve made it trickier to keep him behind. But he got stuck around 1.2, 1.3 seconds for the last few laps. I was happy to keep the position and to have the first podium of the season for the team,” summed up Leclerc, who stressed on improving the qualifying performance to be able to put himself in contention to fight for victories.
It is a point concurred by team boss Vasseur, who thinks the loss in dirty air at the start starting even on row two is large enough to disallow any chance of moving forward, considering the closeness of race pace. Overall, there is more to extract from the car he thinks, even on Leclerc’s side.
“I think we need to focus on qualifying because it’s been a very long time I haven’t been as happy with the car balance,” continued Leclerc. “I feel very at ease with the car in a way that I know I can extract the maximum out of the car more often than not, but unfortunately, the car potential is just not good enough to fight for better in qualifying.”
Vasseur added: “Honestly not, but…the biggest thing for us is the difference between quali pace and race pace. The difference you speak about the last part of the first stint because that was strong. It is true that we started much slower in quali and we have to put more focus on this because starting from P4 you are in the dirty air, you lose a couple of seconds the first 5-6 laps, it is difficult to address to get P3 and then you have to put more focus on this, to be much more consistent overall over the weekend.
“I think we can take this weekend as a positive because we need to step forward at least in the race pace. The race pace was very smooth and I think that the potential is there. We just have to do a better job when we go there. It is not a matter of updates. Honestly, when we are fighting, we are faster than Verstappen and Piastri in the last 14 laps of the race. You are fourth and it is in the behind in quali.
“It means that you need something more in quali. You have to work on yourself to go better job during the quali. You have to start in front because we saw in China with Lewis that when you start in front, the race is different. You are in clean air. In the first 5-6 laps, you are making a 6-7 difference compared to minus 6. For us, it would have been a completely different story.
“It means that the potential is there. It is just that we didn’t put everything together in quali on our side and perhaps a little bit on Charles’ side also. We have to work together. It is not to finger-point someone. It is just to do a better job collectively. We are working as a team. It could have been a bad moment. Honestly, I think this weekend we can take more positive than negative.”
Here’s pass from Charles Leclerc: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-leclerc-impresses-his-race-engineer-with-move-on-russell.1829950697192194195
