Ferrari is approaching the Monaco race with a degree of caution, despite celebrating a victory on this legendary track last year. The team’s performance during the first seven rounds of the 2025 season has been below expectations, and they currently sit in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, which isn’t in line with the ambitions of the Maranello team.
Qualifying pace: The key challenge in Monaco
Ferrari’s biggest problem this season is their qualifying pace, a segment that is crucial in Monaco where grid position is almost decisive, as overtaking on the track is practically impossible. In the last race at Imola, neither Charles Leclerc nor Lewis Hamilton managed to enter the third part of qualifying (Q3), although they later fought their way into the points during the race.
Leclerc’s tempered expectations for his home race
Charles Leclerc, who triumphed in Monaco last year in front of his home crowd, doesn’t have high expectations this year:
“It’s going to be a very difficult weekend. I think Monaco will expose many weaknesses of our car. There are also factors you can’t predict, especially in qualifying where you take a lot of risks. The car is set up in a completely different way, so I hope it might even surprise us,” Leclerc said.
Hamilton’s search for performance in his Ferrari Monaco debut
For Lewis Hamilton, this will be his first appearance in Monaco for Ferrari, but there’s an element of uncertainty for him too. Although a multiple world champion, he hasn’t won on this track since 2019. Nevertheless, Hamilton plans to try out some new ideas that haven’t been in focus until now:
“Honestly, I’m not sure. We are struggling, especially in qualifying. I have some ideas I want to implement next week – some things that have been on the back burner so far because we had other priorities. I hope we can unlock more performance. I really don’t know how the car will behave,” Hamilton believes.
