Having qualified fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc insisted that he was satisfied with his lap in the final stage of qualifying, suggesting that the Scuderia had nothing more left in the SF-25.
Ferrari endured mixed fortunes on qualifying day at the Japanese Grand Prix. Although Charles Leclerc qualified P4 on the grid, he was unable to challenge Red Bull and McLaren in Q3.
The Monegasque had two sets of new softs for the final qualifying segment. At his first attempt, Leclerc posted a 1m27.299s, albeit he failed to improve on his last push lap, and dropped to fourth behind Lando Norris.
Reflecting on his qualifying day, Leclerc said that he was satisfied with his lap in the final stage of qualifying, suggesting that the Scuderia had nothing more left in the SF-25.
“I think the lap was really, really good. Not much I could have done better. We unlocked some performance yesterday, today in qualifying it started to go away from us a little bit, especially in Q3.
“Overall, the lap… I was really happy with it. There’s still a big gap to McLaren and Red Bull, but as a whole, it’s been positive, I feel a lot more confident with the car.”
“I put everything into my best lap in Q3 and there was nothing more we could have got out of the car today. P4 is not a satisfying result and we have to keep working to close the gap to McLaren and Red Bull, with the target of getting back to winning races. As a whole however, it has been a positive weekend so far.”
The Monegasque has revealed that he carried out a series of setup experiments during the two one-hour practice sessions on Friday, which helped him and the Maranello-based outfit unlock more performance from the SF-25.
“I feel a lot more comfortable in the car after the changes we made to the set-up yesterday, which also gave me confidence behind the wheel going into Qualifying. I’m looking forward to seeing how it will feel in the race tomorrow, and depending on the weather conditions, to test this approach over a race distance.
A morning with our Japanese Tifosi 🫶 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/gjZFf0j7Sd
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 5, 2025
Ferrari’s team boss Fred Vasseur has been left with mixed emotions, but he insisted that the Scuderia has made a step forward in qualifying compared to the opening two rounds in Melbourne and Shanghai.
“It was a decent quali for Charles, even if I feel we were in the game from the start and then didn’t put everything together in Q3. Lewis struggled a bit more there, after having a similar pace to Charles in Q1 and Q2. McLaren is still a step ahead, so we must continue to push to develop the car more.
“It is difficult to predict what we can do in the race, as the forecast is for rain, at least overnight, which could be our first experience of a wet track this weekend. Even if it’s dry, but the wind changes direction, here at Suzuka that means we will find a very different track.
“Overall, I feel we made a step ahead in qualifying and we must continue to work in this direction in the race to reach the targets we have set ourselves,” concluded the Frenchman.
