McLaren have been the clear front-runners in the 2025 season so far. Sharing four Grand Prix victories among them, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are leading the charge in the Drivers’ championship, and their team is well clear of its rivals in the Constructors’ standings. However, Ferrari have shown the potential to inch closer to the Woking outfit, at least with Charles Leclerc in the cockpit.
While the SF-25 has been difficult to drive, Ferrari are trying its best to become McLaren’s closest challenger, and with each passing weekend, they seem to be achieving that. At the Saudi Arabian GP two weeks ago, Leclerc secured the Italian team’s first podium of the season.
It was quite the stellar drive from the Monegasque as he managed his tires brilliantly to eke out a P3 finish ahead of Norris in the charging McLaren. When asked about that podium in Jeddah, Leclerc credited the setup change they made to the SF-25, which, even though was a bit “extreme“, helped the team make the car faster.
“The podium that we’ve seen in the last race is mostly because of that setup direction. It’s quite an extreme one, it’s very difficult to drive the car that way. But it makes the car faster,” he said in an ESPN interview in Miami. Naturally, the #16 driver is keen to build on this momentum and feels that Ferrari can rattle McLaren for the win in Miami this weekend.
“That gives me the confidence that we can do small steps after small steps, getting closer and closer to hopefully a win, and this is the target for this weekend,” Leclerc added. While the Maranello outfit is yet to bring a major upgrade to the SF-25, they are looking to maximize the potential of the car’s current iteration.
And even though Lewis Hamilton has struggled to adapt to the car’s loaded front end, Ferrari are counting on the Briton to get over the things that are holding him back soon enough. So, for now, they know they have the performance potential in the car.
It just needs to be extracted and maximized. Could it happen in Miami for the Scuderia? Leclerc is cautiously optimistic.
“We know McLaren are the fastest at the moment in the best car. We are very confident that we can do something special,” the Monegasque concluded.
| SF-25 is designed to better suit Leclerc’s style: More front-end focused, similar to the F1-75 pic.twitter.com/Oh6aLygoaK
— La Gazzetta Ferrari (@GazzettaFerrari) February 22, 2025
Now, Ferrari have this tendency to surprise whenever people start to write them off. Even last year, when they had a slump in form during the European leg of the season, they bounced back against all expectations to win their home race in Monza and then went on a late charge toward the Constructors’ championship.
Leclerc would hope that the Miami GP springs a similar comeback for them. On a realistic note, though, the eight-time Grand Prix winner would be aiming to repeat his podium heroics from Jeddah. Having secured two top-three finishes in the three Grands Prix held around the Miami International Autodrome, Leclerc would be confident about his prospects.
In fact, in 2022, he even fought for the victory with Max Verstappen, but was unlucky as the Ferrari car back then was struggling with tire degradation. This year, too, being in the fight for the win seems a bit far-fetched, looking at Ferrari’s form book relative to McLaren.
Besides being the quickest in the field, the MCL39 might have a clear advantage in Miami this weekend. Former F1 strategist and F1 TV analyst, Ruth Buscombe-Divey, underscored how the McLaren cars run well in the heat and have also been quite good on their tire degradation.
So, even if someone like Leclerc or Verstappen looks to outsmart the McLaren drivers with tire management and a clever pit stop strategy, they may fall short of being a surprise contender for the win.
