United States GP: What can Ferrari salvage from remainder of 2025 season amid renewed stress from Mercedes, Red Bull?

“At the moment it just feels like we are passengers to the car.”

That was the frank evaluation of a downbeat Charles Leclerc after the Singapore Grand Prix, the place he completed 46 seconds behind George Russell’s race-winning Mercedes in sixth place.

It got here after a race amid sizzling and humid situations beneath the Marina Bay floodlights by which each Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton skilled brake issues, woes which turned determined for the latter within the race’s closing laps and finally led to the Briton being categorized in eighth behind Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

Their Singapore struggles got here as constructors’ championship rivals Mercedes and Red Bull completed first and second respectively, two weeks after ending within the reverse order in Azerbaijan, amid front-running returns to type for each groups into the closing section of the 2025 marketing campaign.

The forthcoming USA-Mexico double header sees Ferrari return to the venues of their most up-to-date Grand Prix wins from final yr so, as an undesirable winless anniversary looms as F1 heads again to North America, simply the place are the Scuderia at with six race weekends of their already-disappointing season to go?

Leclerc sounds warning about season’s last races

Approaching the tip of his seventh season at Ferrari by which world title glory has once more eluded them, Leclerc has pulled no punches in current weeks when dissecting the place he feels their season is headed.

“Unfortunately, we are now the fourth team and solidly the fourth team,” Leclerc instructed Sky Sports F1 after contemporary frustration in Singapore.

“Quite far behind the top three. Mercedes managed to do the step Red Bull did in Monza.

“We did not handle to try this so it will be a protracted finish to the season.”

The “step” made by Mercedes and Red Bull to which Leclerc refers issues the upgrades Ferrari’s two rivals delivered to their automobiles in current races.

Despite expectations that the occasions after the August summer season break would see little in the way in which of true efficiency updates – the standard low-downforce packages for Monza (now additionally helpful for November’s Las Vegas GP) apart – given the deal with the large regulation change incoming for 2026, Red Bull and Mercedes have managed to search out essential features the place Ferrari haven’t.

Boosted by a flooring improve at Monza that McLaren definitely believes was key to Max Verstappen profitable the Italian Grand Prix and turning round their RB21 automobile, Red Bull launched additional low-downforce rear-wing modifications in Baku, the place Verstappen received once more, after which a brand new entrance wing for improved downforce in Singapore.

Mercedes have revised their entrance wing at every of the final two occasions.

That has positioned stress on the entrance of the sector on even the previously-dominant McLaren, though they’ve lengthy had the luxurious of an enormous factors lead within the Constructors’ Championship, a title they duly wrapped up in Singapore, and stay favourites for the drivers’ title too.

Ferrari had no such efficiency buffer to fall again on.

“It’s not easy obviously because you want to fight for better positions but at the moment it just feels like we are passengers to the car and we cannot extract much more,” admitted Leclerc.

From second to 3rd… to fourth?

Given it was clear from early on in 2025 that McLaren wouldn’t be challenged for the constructors’ title, the main focus for Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull has been about profitable races the place they’ll and securing second place within the groups’ standings.

After a troublesome begin to the season, compounded by an embarrassing double disqualification within the Chinese Grand Prix which price them 18 factors, Ferrari first moved forward of Mercedes and Red Bull on the season’s ninth spherical, the Spanish Grand Prix, when Leclerc completed on the rostrum for the second successive race.

While they dropped again behind Mercedes to 3rd when Russell received a fortnight later in Canada, Ferrari had been again forward from the Austrian Grand Prix and held second place by way of the summer season throughout a interval when modifications to the rear of the SF-25 had been launched aimed toward addressing the automobile’s ride-height weak spot.

But whereas a 3rd for Leclerc behind the McLarens in Belgium was adopted by an sudden pole place forward of the papaya automobiles in Hungary, the administration of automobile points within the second half of the Budapest race noticed the Monegasque finally fade to complete fourth there.

Ferrari have been outscored by all their fundamental rivals for the reason that summer season break, with Mercedes reclaiming second within the standings in Baku. Mercedes then opened up a useful 27-point benefit over the Italian staff after Russell received and Kimi Antonelli completed fifth in Singapore.

Red Bull too are immediately again within the combine.

From 66 factors behind Scuderia on the summer season break, they’re now simply eight adrift after 4 consecutive top-two finishes for Verstappen.

With no additional upgrades seemingly set to reach for the SF-25, the drivers are conscious that the problem of combating again at Mercedes and keeping off resurgent Red Bull, whereas additionally avoiding their first winless season since 2021, is clearly not going to be simple.

“The car we have is not unfortunately of the level of the guys up ahead of us, particularly as they have had some upgrades, and we can’t match them,” mentioned Hamilton, nonetheless awaiting the primary podium end of his Ferrari profession.

“So we’re on a knife-edge trying to get as close as we can.”

Can Ferrari salvage podiums over remainder of 2025?

Team boss Frederic Vasseur has spent many of the season emphasising in his interviews with the media that optimising their automobile’s package deal and getting on high of tyre efficiency on every race weekend, moderately than merely counting on upgrades, was key to attaining stronger outcomes.

It is an space Ferrari have definitely struggled to execute persistently, however may show key if they’re to quickly finish what at the moment stands as a five-race podium drought and finally hit their general goal of beating their rivals to second within the Constructors’ Championship.

Hamilton, who has questioned the staff’s ways in qualifying in every of the final two occasions after promising begins in apply gave technique to disappointing grid slots, mentioned after Singapore: “There was potential for us to be further ahead.

“I believe in qualifying we’re nonetheless not extracting the complete potential of the automobile.

“If we can get our qualifying fixed, which is very, very hard to do against these quick cars, then maybe we can get slightly better results.

“But I imply, finally, we’re nonetheless combating for fourth, fifth, sixth at finest.”

Hamilton added: “It’s all about how we extract in qualifying and if we’ll get essentially the most out of the automobile.

“But, at the moment, we need to get 105 per cent out of the car to be able to compete with the guys ahead – so that’s going to be tough.”

Leclerc, who has at the very least appeared on the rostrum 5 occasions this yr, was definitely not holding an excessive amount of hope for the six race weekends that stay.

“I don’t think there will be anything special,” he warned.

“I think the picture we have seen [in Singapore] is going to be what the rest of this season looks like for us.”

The actuality is that, for Ferrari, something however first isn’t really thought of ok, no matter whether or not they find yourself ending second, third or fourth this yr.

Posting on social media the times after Singapore, Hamilton wrote: “I see the progress we are making, and the hard work that goes into every race, but this is Ferrari. Progress alone is not enough.

“To obtain greatness we have to go additional, be higher. There is a lot we will obtain collectively, and if we will construct on our successes, and alter the issues we have to, I totally imagine we’ll get there.”

And whereas the struggles of this season will certainly be rapidly forgotten in the event that they adapt rapidly to F1’s new period of guidelines in 2026 and begin profitable races and searching like contending for a primary world title since 2008, the well-known Scuderia will definitely be carrying extra scrutiny and stress on their shoulders because of 2025’s woes than they’d have ideally favored.

Sky Sports F1’s United States GP schedule

Thursday October 16
8pm: Drivers’ Press Conference
11pm: Paddock Uncut

Friday October 17
6pm: United States GP Practice One (apply begins at 6.30pm)*
8.30pm: Team Principals’ Press Conference
10pm: United States GP Sprint Qualifying (qualifying begins at 10.30pm*)

Saturday October 18
5pm: United States GP Sprint build-up
6pm: UNITED STATES GP SPRINT
7pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
9pm: United States GP Qualifying build-up*
10pm: UNITED STATES GP QUALIFYING*
12am (Sunday morning): Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday October 19
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP response
11pm: Ted’s Notebook

*additionally stay on Sky Sports Main Event

F1’s title race now heads again to North America, with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first because the Sprint format returns this weekend, stay on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime