Ferrari's low-key start to the 2025 Formula 1 season is starting to wear on Charles Leclerc, who admitted after qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that he is worried the SF-25 isn't getting closer to the front.
Save for the sprint race portion of the Chinese GP weekend, Leclerc has been the benchmark driver at Ferrari over new team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who is going through a difficult patch.
But having an edge over Hamilton right now was little consolation to Leclerc after placing fourth in qualifying at Jeddah, 0.376s away from pole position despite being more than half a second clear of Hamilton.
"I'm not happy," he said. "I'm really not happy. Finishing P4 in a qualifying session where the lap is really good, I put everything out there - but for now the performance of the car is just not there.
"I either have massive oversteer or massive understeer, but the end result is that I don't have enough grip to produce what the guys in front do.
"At the moment I feel good in the car, I think I've found the sweet spot of the car that matches my driving style. I feel like in the last three qualifyings I've managed to maximise the potential of the car, but the potential is just not yet available what I want it."
Leclerc also told Sky that he "expected more from a track like this".
In every grand prix qualifying session since the Melbourne opener, Leclerc has been between three and four tenths off pole.
Leclerc gaps to grand prix pole
Australia: 0.659s
China: 0.380s
Japan: 0.316s
Bahrain: 0.334s
Saudi Arabia: 0.376s
It is, he admitted, the gap the team had foreseen to start the season - yet given Ferrari introduced a major floor upgrade in Bahrain (and now some circuit-specific wing tweaks for Jeddah), and given the upgrades appear to be performing as expected, Leclerc was concerned that Ferrari doesn't seem to be edging closer.
"It's the gap that we've expected since the beginning of the season. However I'm a bit disappointed here because we had a few upgrades that I think should have helped for here - and [yet] the gap seems to be pretty similar.
"Unfortunately I feel like the others have done as much of a step - so the gap hasn't really changed."
Though 20 grands prix still remain 2025, Leclerc is an increasingly daunting 43 points back in the drivers' standings.
He said he believes a podium - but very likely not more than that - could be on the cards on Sunday with a good start.
