21/04/2025
NEWS STORY
Claiming Ferrari's first race podium of the season, Charles Leclerc admits surprise at SF-25's pace.
Initially running fourth the Monegasque inherited the lead once the pit stops got underway around Lap 19, however, on his mediums he was able to extend his opening stint until Lap 29, when, after pitting, he rejoined in fifth.
Promoted to fourth when Lando Norris finally stopped, Leclerc made short work of George Russell and continued to maintain a strong pace in the final stages as he was hunted down by Norris, taking the chequered flag in third.
"The car just felt good," said Leclerc at race end. "To be honest, I was struggling a lot when I was behind George with the car balance, a lot of understeer, and I hate that," he added.
"As soon as he pitted, the front came alive and the car felt a lot better," he admitted. "So then I could manage the fronts a little bit better and the performance came much better once I was in free air."
The extended opening stint, and change to fresh hards, allowed him to make short work of the Mercedes driver who was on tyres nine laps older.
"I knew it was going to be tight," he said. "He was very quick but I wasn't worried. I knew that it was going to be tight and I didn't know what to expect with the traffic, especially.
"At one point, I had to avoid, I think, Bortoleto and I went in the marbles and I lost a lot of time," he admitted. "And Lando nearly got into my DRS range, which would have been a bit trickier than to keep him behind.
"But then I think he got stuck around 1.2s, 1.3s for the last two or three laps. I was happy to keep that position and to have the first podium of the season for the team.
"I feel like we've maximised absolutely everything we could have this weekend," he smiled. "There wasn't anything more, I think, in the car.
"Now, I think we need to focus on qualifying because at the moment it's been a very long time I haven't been as happy with the car balance. And I feel very at ease with the car in a way that I know that I can extract the maximum out of the car more often than not.
"But unfortunately, the car potential is just not good enough to fight for better in qualifying. But in the race, I think the good car balance had results. I think we were all surprised by our pace in free air on the first stint. So that was really good. I think everything else was perfectly executed.
"Strategy was great, pit stops have been great the whole season and also the whole last year as well. There wasn't much more we could have done."
Sadly, it was a different tale on the other side of the garage, where, in light of his comments post-Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton was asked if he was feeling more comfortable with the SF-25 now.
"No. There was not one second," came the reply.
"Clearly the car is capable of being P3, so Charles did a great job today," he subsequently added, "so I can't blame it on the car."
Asked if he knew why it is only him that appears to struggle with the car, the seven-time world champion offered a blunt: "No!"
"I didn't discuss with Lewis, but it was a bit up and down," said Fred Vasseur. "It's not that he was always off the pace, but let me discuss with him first.
"There is no problem," he insisted. "It is confidence with the car and a little bit with himself in that everything is new and for sure, this weekend when you don't do a long stint on Friday, we were struggling a little bit with the balance, but let's see."
Can't help but feel that Hamilton is preparing the way for retirment at the end of the year.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Jeddah here.