Ferrari ‘so far behind now’ as US GP setback triggers fresh Leclerc criticism

Jamie Woodhouse 18 Oct 2025 2:15 PM

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc once again was not mincing his words, as he lamented a “very poor day” for Ferrari at the United States Grand Prix.

Leclerc put his SF-25 machine tenth only on the grid for the Sprint race in Austin. The Monegasque driver said Ferrari are “so far behind now” and suggested there is nothing in the works to produce a sizeable improvement in Austin, as the blunt criticism continued.

Charles Leclerc: ‘A very poor day’

Ferrari has failed to make the podium across the last five grands prix, a drop in form which left Leclerc deflated last time out in Singapore.

Leclerc suggested that McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes had converged at the front of the grid, leaving Ferrari behind, with Leclerc predicting very little positive change going forward. A report in Italy claimed that Leclerc’s comments did not sit well with some of the Ferrari engineers.

Leclerc displayed very little change in tone as he reacted to qualifying tenth for the Austin Sprint.

“Honestly, my lap was clean in SQ3,” he said. “I don’t regret much what I’ve done in my lap.

“Maybe a little bit more mileage this morning on the medium, you can fine-tune the car a little bit better. There might be a tenth in that, a tenth and a half, I don’t know, but it’s not enough. I mean, we are so far behind now.”

Ferrari find themselves behind the customer Sauber on the US Grand Prix Sprint grid, with Nico Hulkenberg having delivered a stellar drive to the P4 slot. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, plus Williams’ Carlos Sainz – the driver dropped by Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton – also qualified ahead of both racers in red.

Asked how much Ferrari can change to make the race weekend better from here, Leclerc replied: “I’ll be very surprised if we found something that will make us [do] such a jump. But I hope I’m wrong.

“But unfortunately for now, it just seems like it’s the potential of our car.

“Very surprising the teams that are very strong this weekend, apart from obviously the McLaren and the Red Bull, which is expected, but you’ve got Nico in front that has done probably an amazing lap, and he’s been consistently fast this weekend.

“So we just need to understand if they understood something that we didn’t, but today was a very poor day.”