There are many levels in Formula 1. And Leclerc probably meets them all. Not only because he is one of the fittest drivers on the grid, but because he has the talent and know-how to be one of the greatest. Even if Ferrari says otherwise.
Charles Leclerc is in his seventh year wearing Ferrari red. Not one, not two, not three. Seven years in which, throughout this time, everything that was promised has faded away. He arrived as Sebastian Vettel’s teammate in 2019, filling the vacancy left by Raikkonen, who was leaving to try his luck at Alfa Romeo, where he had previously raced. He had come in as the revelation driver of F1, the one who was destined to change the history of Ferrari. But…
Leclerc still sees no glory at Ferrari, and it’s been seven years
After Vettel left first, and then Raikkonen, nothing has changed. Leclerc still sees no glory at Ferrari, and it’s not his fault, but that of his team. Except for 2022, when they showed signs of having the best car for at least the first ten races, when they were seriously challenging Verstappen for the title, the Maranello team has been going through a serious crisis that no one seems able to solve. Not even the drivers, and certainly not Hamilton.
The reality is that the brand’s executives, John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna, had believed in Fred Vasseur’s project: to win the World Championship again in the last year of the current regulations, those of ground effect cars. All this before the start of the new regulatory cycle. And the truth is that, so far, the 2025 season is proving to be a disaster, and Leclerc and those around him are beginning to suspect that worse is yet to come.
The SF-25 was born badly, but above all, it cannot keep up with the improvements made by the rest of the top teams. This red car, which was completely redesigned from the SF-24, was supposed to offer development options that have not materialized. But the effect has been quite the opposite. With no goals and no premises, the season has completely turned into a season of failure.
Ferrari has sunk even further
The goal was to fight for the title, this time for real. Especially knowing that they had finished 2024 with a really strong car capable of standing up to McLaren in the last races of the year. But none of that has happened.
And if it weren’t for the lack of drivers racing for Red Bull, and Charles’s exploits in races such as Monaco and the super podium in Saudi Arabia and Barcelona, Ferrari would have sunk even further, finishing fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, also behind Mercedes. The pressure for results is beginning to take its toll on the team and on Frederic Vasseur.
The arrival of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari is his doing and is very exciting for the tifosi. Once the initial excitement has passed, what they want now is victories or, at the very least, a car capable of fighting toe-to-toe with the best. At the moment, there are flashes of competitiveness, but nowhere near a car with world championship potential. Ferrari, with the Monegasque driver in third place in Spain, finished half a minute behind winner Oscar Piastri. And that is even more worrying. The Monegasque driver pushes his car to the limit, leading to possible driving errors—such as those in Miami and Canada—that condemn him even further.
It is therefore here that Leclerc is beginning to make moves to avoid finding himself even more lost. Reports from Italy suggest that he has begun to consider leaving the team. He would presumably do so by activating the clause in his current contract, which he signed when he last renewed from 2024 to 2029. In other words, the driver would sit down to review the situation and consider a change of scenery, as reported by the Italian press ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Leclerc is tired of the ups and downs
Leclerc has grown tired of the ups and downs the team has experienced in recent seasons and has begun to explore other possibilities, such as the one that could be open to him at Mercedes if Russell does not renew or leaves for another destination; even Red Bull, if Max Verstappen decides to do the same, as well as evaluating the exit clauses in his contract.
Here, next season’s rule change is a key factor, but if he doesn’t see anything that catches his eye by then, he is likely to get another seat with another team or project. The Monaco-born driver, who was signed by Ferrari from the lower categories, would end a love affair with the tifosi, who nicknamed him ‘The Chosen One’ for bringing the Scuderia back to where it belongs.
But the fact is that they haven’t won a title since 2008. They are dangerously close to a 20-year drought, the same one they were in when Schumacher starred in that golden era from 2000 to 2004.
Ferrari no longer inspires hope
What is certain, with the results in hand, is that there is nothing to hold on to. Monaco marked a year since Charles Leclerc’s emotional victory at home, the last of his career. He did it with a great Ferrari which, together with Sainz, finished last season with five wins and a close second place in the constructors’ championship. However, the SF-25 has fallen out of contention with McLaren and Verstappen. They are struggling both in race pace and on a single lap.
Some point to the months of limbo between Cardile’s departure as technical director (July) and Serra’s arrival (October), while others question the aggressive changes to this year’s car, with a redesigned front suspension. This is at a time when most of their rivals opted for controlled evolutions so as not to have to relearn the behavior of their cars.
If Charles Leclerc decides to leave the team at the end of this or next season, he would join very few other drivers in Ferrari’s history who have chosen to leave as the best option for their future and to win.
Or at least try to do so in a place with a project that inspires hope. “I need to win the world championship,” said the driver at the start of the 2024 season. “We have made changes here to make it happen, but we are not racing alone. There are nine other teams fighting for the same thing. We have to be alert to achieve it,” he argued. And, until then, everything has continued more or less in the same vein: starting relatively well to fight, only, to be runners-up in the world championship. As in the days of Fernando Alonso, without going any further…
The last person to take the plunge on his own was Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard jumped ship from Ferrari in 2014 after five years without a win and with a team that was only getting worse. He wanted to try his luck and build a new dream.
So he signed up for a new project, McLaren-Honda, in 2015. Alain Prost did the same in 1992, when he uttered his legendary phrase criticizing the performance of his car: “It was like driving a truck,” he said after competing in the Japanese Grand Prix, his last race with Ferrari. Previously, Nino Farina, the first Formula 1 world champion in 1950, then with Alfa Romeo. With the ‘Il Cavallino Rampante’ brand, he achieved only one victory and five podium finishes (at a time when nine races were held), but he was never champion. Charles Leclerc does not want to find himself in the same situation and is already looking for new paths.