Charles Leclerc suffered a significant performance drop at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix after his SF-25’s rear suspension upgrade reportedly failed. Despite starting from pole position, the Ferrari driver finished the race in fourth place, unable to maintain his early pace due to this issue.
Leclerc had previously secured pole position by outperforming rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, marking Ferrari’s first pole since the 2025 Chinese GP. However, the hopes for a strong race faded as his car’s rear suspension problem severely impacted his pace at the Hungaroring circuit.
How the rear suspension update affected performance
Ferrari implemented an updated rear suspension system on their SF-25 in Belgium aiming to improve handling. While the upgrade initially seemed effective, it created problems under certain ride height conditions specific to the Hungaroring track. According to Corriere Della Sera, the setup rendered the car almost undrivable during the race, forcing Leclerc to lose crucial time.
This mechanical struggle caused Leclerc to drop nearly two seconds per lap in comparison to his initial pace, ultimately finishing 42.5 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris. Behind Norris, Oscar Piastri and George Russell completed the podium positions. Meanwhile, Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton finished the race unchanged from his twelfth-place start, contributing little to Ferrari’s overall results that weekend.
Leclerc’s reaction reveals his frustration
After the race, Leclerc openly expressed his disappointment in the post-race interview. He said,
“Unfortunately we had an issue on the chassis, so I don’t have much to add on that. It’s just extremely frustrating when you are fighting for a win and when we had the pace that we had at the beginning of the race, and we lose absolutely everything later on, it’s very frustrating.
“Very disappointed. I don’t take any positives from this weekend when we ended the weekend like that. When we have one opportunity in a year to win a race, we need to take it and today we didn’t. Now we will analyse what are the reasons why we had this problem. I don’t think it’s anything that we had in our control, but we’ll check.”
His candid remarks highlighted the team’s urgency in understanding the issue and preventing a similar setback in future races.
Implications for Ferrari’s championship aspirations
Following 14 races and three Sprint events, Charles Leclerc sits fifth in the Drivers’ Championship with 151 points, while Lewis Hamilton is sixth with 109 points. Ferrari currently holds second place in the Constructors‘ Championship with 260 points. However, the Hungarian GP weekend underlined how technical faults can derail the team’s title ambitions.
With Fred Vasseur leading Scuderia Ferrari, the team faces pressure to resolve these mechanical challenges and improve consistency. Their ability to regain competitiveness will be crucial in maintaining their standing in the fiercely contested championships ahead.