As great as the hopes before the first Ferrari home game of the 2025 Formula 1 season, the disappointment was also great. Because none of the red racers managed to qualify in imola in Q3. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton got stuck as eleventh and twelfth and had to give up Aston Martin, who made it into the top 10 with medium.
“The best performance we could have was eleven and twelve. It hurts,” admits Leclerc. “Sure, you can always drive a round a little better and optimize some things, but we’re justhere to do at the moment.”
“We simply lack the performance in the car – and I am constantly repeating that. The potential we hoped for from this car is simply not there. We have to get better,” he says.
What is missing from the Ferrari SF-25? “Just performance,” said Monegasse. “We can do what we want – in the end it is simply missing from the performance. Our racing speed is good, but it was clear on such a route how crucial the qualification would be – and we didn’t deliver.”
Ferrari even boiled off Aston Martin
Instead, Ferrari was even boiled down by Aston Martin in Imola who had made it with the medium tires in Q3, even though they have been in the entire season. Ferrari also discussed it briefly, “but it wasn’t really on the schedule and was not a serious option for us,” admits Leclerc.
In the video: “Italian tragedy” in F1 qualifying
“Nobody really considered that – except Aston, and congratulations to her, it paid off with the move -in into Q3.”
Teammate Lewis Hamilton was also quite disillusioned after the early end of the first home game in red: “To be honest, I am extremely disappointed, destroyed that we did not make it,” he says.
“I really had the feeling that we took a lot of positive steps over the weekend. The car felt better overall. Today the brakes were better, the feeling of balances was good. The first run in Q2 felt properly. But when we made new tires on it, there was suddenly no additional grip. We just couldn’t drive faster.”
“Others managed to bring the tires to temperature – it didn’t work for us.”
Ferrari’s problem with the tires
Incidentally, this is also a topic at Ferrari: the Scuderia seems to be better able to cope with used tires than with fresh tires. “This is a trend with us all season,” says Leclerc. “We have to analyze that.”
“If you see how quickly Max [Verstappen] Curve 2 and 3 drives – we just can’t get there, “adds Hamilton.” We have to invest even more, because it is currently simply missing. When you see how the others drive 1: 14.7 – we just get 1: 15.7. That’s a lot of time. “
The fact is that it was not enough for the top 10 for Ferrari today. “This is my first home race for Ferrari in Italy – and then not to get in Q3, that hurts,” says Hamilton. “This is really bitter.”
What’s for Ferrari on Sunday?
Of course there is always a chance to do better on Sunday, but this is a hard piece of work on a route like Imola. “I mean, this is not a particularly good route to overtake,” says Hamilton. “It is fun in qualifying, but in the race you quickly get stuck in the DRS train, not much happens. But we all drive with softer tires, so let’s see what is possible.”
Leclerc also does not see a strategic scope strategically to try something other than the competition: “The right strategy is basically the same for everyone. If you deviate from it, then you hope for a safety car,” he says. “Is that the right way tomorrow? Maybe. But we’ll see how it works and then decide.”
“I hope I can do a little miracle tomorrow,” says Leclerc. The miracle will probably need it too. “To be honest: At the moment there is nothing that gives me hope for the pace – simply because the potential of the car is currently not sufficient.”