Ferrari v McLaren? Vasseur points out key difference in F1 2025

Although Fred Vasseur is not ruling out Andrea Stella’s prediction that Ferrari could challenge McLaren in the latter part of the season, he concedes the Woking team’s advantage is that it’s more consistent.

Ferrari have yet to win a grand prix this season, zero from 14, while McLaren have won 11 races to romp to a 299 point lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

Can Ferrari challenge McLaren in the latter part of the F1 2025 season?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The team also holds down the 1-2 in the Drivers’ standings where Oscar Piastri is nine points ahead of Lando Norris in what has become a two-driver race for the title.

But while the titles are going to McLaren, bar the shouting, Ferrari’s performance in the last two races has hinted at a bit of a resurgence.

Charles Leclerc qualified third at the Belgian Grand Prix before joining the McLaren team-mates on the podium in the wet-dry race, while a week later he pipped Piastri to pole position and led the early laps in Hungary before suspected ride-height issues dampened his pace in the final stint and cost him a shot at the victory.

His pace, though, had McLaren team principal Stella declaring Ferrari would be a thorn in McLaren’s side when F1 returns from the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

“Not surprised,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com, of Leclerc’s challenge in Hungary, “because Ferrari had been competitive over the last few races.

“They were competitive in the dry in Silverstone, they were competitive in Belgium. Somehow, this wasn’t expressed fully.

“I think we saw yesterday [qualifying] that they were in condition to score the pole position, and today, it’s not like in the first stint we were holding back. We were trying to go as fast as possible, and Leclerc was managing the lead of the race with some degree of control. So I’m not surprised.

“I think Ferrari is going to be a contender for victories for the remainder of the season. Definitely anytime we were racing in the second part of the season, we will have to take into account that he qualified and led the race, and we will have to deal with Ferrari.

“So there’s nothing obvious in this business. This is exactly what we said yesterday in our briefing after qualifying, and this is what we will keep repeating to ourselves in the second part of the season.”

Stella’s prediction was put to Vasseur when he spoke with the media a short while later.

But while the Frenchman reckons Ferrari maybe have a chance to challenge McLaren when they put in a good weekend, he concedes the Woking team’s advantage is that it has been more consistent than the Italian outfit no matter the conditions.

“It’s difficult to predict,” he replied, “also because I think the picture of one day is not the same through the next weekend.

“But at least I would say that the last two that we are back on the pace in Spa, and this one [ Hungary]. We are consistent. We are quite consistent on the tyres. We are able to manage the pace, and if we are back in quali we will fight with them.

“I think that the advantage that they have today is that they are always there. Doesn’t matter, they are performing in every single condition when we are a bit more inconsistent during the weekend.

“And if we want to win, we need to be very consistent in every single condition, in FP have good preparation for the race, and Q1, Q2, Q3 all the same, and in the race with the different compounds and so on. I think today they are a bit more consistent.”

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