Leclerc defiant: Ferrari 'shouldn't give up' on 2025 title

Charles Leclerc has made it clear that Ferrari must not abandon its 2025 world championship ambitions, despite a difficult start to the F1 season.

The Monegasque driver believes the team should continue pushing for success until it is mathematically out of contention, even as the allure of shifting focus to the major 2026 regulation changes grows stronger.

To date, Ferrari’s 2025 season has been a sobering reality check. The SF-25, expected to build on the late-2024 promise of its predecessor, has been erratic, leaving the team languishing in fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship, a massive 110 points behind McLaren after five rounds.

Yet Leclerc, who delivered Ferrari's first podium of the season last weekend in Saudi Arabia, remains adamant that giving up is not an option.

“It’s still a long season and we shouldn’t give up for sure. We are going to push until the very end, but I think one can go with the other as well,” Leclerc explained, quotes by Motorsport Week.

“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.

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“I don’t think you can be extreme in one way or the other. So yeah, 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.”

Leclerc remains hopeful that Ferrari’s incoming upgrades – particularly for Imola and the front wing regulations tightening that will be introduced in Spain – will help close the gap to the leaders.

Full Motivation Despite the Challenge

While Ferrari’s prospects for 2025 may be under threat, Leclerc insists his personal drive will not waver, even if outright victories become harder to achieve.

“At least 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.

“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.

“So that’s where I find my motivation is to try to outperform whenever I can; so motivation won’t be a problem.”

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