Charles Leclerc blasts ‘f***ing embarrassing’ Las Vegas GP qualifying in untelevised radio rant
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc
Restricted to ninth on the Las Vegas Grand Prix grid, Charles Leclerc called it a “f***ing embarrassing” performance, as untelevised team radio also unearthed a moment where the engine switched off mid-lap for Leclerc in the Ferrari SF-25.
Leclerc would claim that Ferrari has been “struggling massively” in the wet ever since he joined the team, and pointed out that current teammate Lewis Hamilton, plus former teammate Carlos Sainz, have experienced that compared to wet-weather running with other teams.
Charles Leclerc fumes over Las Vegas GP qualifying result
On a Friday evening in Las Vegas where Hamilton qualified dead last, Leclerc was able to make the final stage of qualifying, but P9 on the grid was the best that he could get out of his Ferrari on a drying track.
The Ferrari engine in Leclerc’s SF-25 was also not having a very fun evening, as untelevised footage captured the moment that it suddenly cut out on Leclerc.
🔴 RÉVOLUTION : les ingénieurs Ferrari du président John Elkann ont réussi à produire une voiture qui sous la pluie coupe le moteur sans aucune raison et en plein virage.
— Scuderia Ferrari FRA (@FerrariF1FRA) November 22, 2025
“Erm, engine switched off,” he reported over the radio.
“Try to switch it back on,” was the call sent to Leclerc by race engineer Bryan Bozzi, which Leclerc succeeded in doing.
Going on to qualify ninth, further team radio not picked up on the world feed demonstrated Leclerc’s frustration, as he went into a sweary rant.
“F***ing embarrassing. F***ing hell. I don’t get how we can be so off the pace. There is like zero grip. Zero f***ing grip.”
Speaking to the media post-race, Leclerc claimed that this has been a long-running issue for Ferrari in the rain, stretching all the way back to when he arrived in 2019.
“Unfortunately, since I’m in Ferrari, we are struggling massively in the wet. We don’t quite find the solution,” he said.
“It’s not a fault that we are not trying, because we’ve been trying like crazy, but it just doesn’t work, and it’s very, very frustrating, because it’s been probably my biggest strength in the junior categories coming up, and we are just struggling like crazy. Whenever it’s wet, the tyres don’t switch on, and we just have a very, very poor grip.”
Asked if that is related to tyre warm-up, Leclerc replied: “I don’t think it’s only that, because we’ve been trying things on the tyre warm-up as well in the past. And, yeah, it didn’t work, so, frustrating.”
Quizzed on whether Ferrari has tried everything that it can to get the SF-25 working more how he would like it to in Las Vegas, Leclerc clarified: “Probably not this weekend, because actually, FP1/FP2, were quite competitive.
“Then FP3, we had some wet running, but it was not clearly wet, and we weren’t too bad, actually. And then now that it was fully wet, there was no way to change the car by now. So no, we haven’t changed anything necessarily this weekend, just because we couldn’t.”
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The Las Vegas Strip Circuit is a tricky challenge at the best of times, with the typically chilly conditions, and the low downforce setup compromise required to best tackle that 1.9km blast down The Strip.
Add rain into the equation, and the jeopardy goes up a notch. Leclerc was asked how he found the experience from the cockpit.
“Not nice, not nice,” he confirmed. “Especially our car, it’s very, very difficult to drive, plus here in Vegas, on a street track by night, cold conditions, wet conditions, everything is adding up for it to be a very difficult qualifying session.
“I wish I was at least as competitive as the guys in front, because there’s such a gap that honestly, I’m pretty sure, probably it feels quite a lot better for them than it does for us. I just hope we can find a solution.
“We’ve had Lewis in the team, we’ve had Carlos in the team as well, which have obviously seen what it’s like to be driving other cars in those conditions, and it’s clear that we’ve got to do steps forward in those conditions.
“It’s extremely difficult to drive for us. On my side, I can only say that it’s unbelievably difficult to drive. I know exactly what I need to go faster, however, it’s very difficult to achieve that. But we’ll keep trying.”
It was put to Leclerc that these wet-weather issues are “inherited” to the current car, as it was pointed out that the new regulations are on the way for F1 2026, ushering in sweeping changes on both the chassis and engine side.
“That’s what we need to look at,” he responded, “because I felt like with the previous generations of cars, it was very similar. So, yeah, we’ve just been struggling and been poor on the wet since I joined the team.”
Ferrari has dropped to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship but can still rescue P2, with Mercedes in that position only 36 points up the road.
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