Leclerc admits P2 in Teams’ Championship ‘not good enough’ for Ferrari despite ‘very good improvement’ through season

Charles Leclerc believes that taking P2 in the Teams’ Championship is “not good enough” for Ferrari, though the Monegasque also acknowledged that the squad’s current position still marks a “good improvement” from where they were at the beginning of the season.

The Scuderia have been locked in a close battle for the runner-up spot with Mercedes across recent races, with the Italian outfit currently holding the position by just one point. Red Bull are also catching up in fourth place, having closed to within 10 points of Ferrari.

Should Ferrari end the season in P2, it would mark the second consecutive campaign that they have finished in this place, while the squad’s last Teams’ Championship triumph dates back to 2008.

Asked ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix if being runners-up again marks a good enough result for the team, Leclerc responded: “It’s not good enough, no. I think when you drive for such a team, the only thing that is good enough is to win.

“But it’s also true to say that we are against very strong competition, and also teams that have a lot of history in the sport and that are very special in their own ways. It’s not easy, but I think as Ferrari, and when you work for such an incredible brand, it’s not good enough and you’ve got to target winning.

“Having said all that, considering where we started the season and where we are now, it’s a good season. It’s a very good improvement throughout the season, as it’s been very difficult at the beginning of the year to understand exactly what we had to tackle with this new car.

“But to now be fighting for the second in the Constructors’ will be our target, and for next year we’ll target higher.”

Ferrari are yet to win a Grand Prix in 2025 and, when pushed on whether he would prefer a race victory over second place in the Teams’ Championship if he had to choose, Leclerc answered: “I don’t know, I’ll take both.

“If you win then it’s obviously more likely that you get the second in the Constructors’. A very difficult question to answer. I would love to win – I think it’s really important to at least be winning once in a season where everything has been so tough for everybody.

“We’d probably be happy as a team after a victory, but the second place needs to be our target and we need to target both of the two things. I won’t choose between the two.”

For now Leclerc’s focus is on the weekend ahead in Sao Paulo. Despite claiming back-to-back podiums across the last two rounds, the 28-year-old is not necessarily expecting the same result this time out.

“We come here neutral, just like we have approached the last few races,” Leclerc – who announced his engagement to partner Alexandra Saint Mleux in the gap between Mexico and Brazil – explained. “I think it’s important for us not to get carried away by the positive results we’ve had in Mexico and Austin.

“We know that it was thanks to perfect execution from the Friday to the Sunday and that’s extremely difficult to do, and probably even more so when conditions are so difficult to predict, like is always the case here in Brazil.

“We’ll just focus on the job, just like we’ve done – it paid off in the last two weekends and I really hope it does this weekend, but we have no guarantee. We know that we don’t have the pace of McLaren or Red Bull.

“Mercedes can be very strong in some weekends and some others less, but that doesn’t depend on us. We just have to focus on what we do best, and then we’ll see how it goes.”

While Leclerc is yet to score a podium at Interlagos, the eight-time race winner enjoys driving at the Brazilian track.

“I love it,” the Ferrari driver said. “Actually it’s not been such a poor track for me in terms of performance – I wouldn’t say the same thing I said in Budapest earlier this year [a weekend where Leclerc claimed an unexpected pole position] – but for one reason or another on the Sunday it never really went our way.

“But what happened in the past, I don’t really think about it, and I’m sure if we do everything perfect we can be on podium for the first time. Seeing how crazy of a weekend it can be sometimes, even better, so we’ll see.”

On the other side of the garage, Lewis Hamilton sounded a positive note ahead of the upcoming weekend in Sao Paulo.

Asked if it feels like things are clicking off the back of two good outings in Austin and Mexico – barring a time penalty in the latter – the Briton said: “Definitely.

“We've been going from strength to strength and making positive progress. I'm excited. I love being in Brazil, I feel very much at home here. I get the best welcome here, so [I’m] looking forward to the weekend.”

And in terms of whether ‘Hammer time’ could return this weekend, the seven-time World Champion smiled: “I’ve not heard that for a while! I would like to think so – that's the goal, that's what I'm training towards.

“I'm hoping this weekend can be another step from what we've been working on in the past races.”