Charles Leclerc pinpoints the “only positive” for Ferrari courtesy of Lewis Hamilton's performance in the British GP

Charles Leclerc offered a brutally honest assessment of his outing at the 2025 British Grand Prix on Sunday, July 6. The 27-year-old endured a forgettable race with the Scuderia Ferrari team as he finished P14 at the Silverstone event.

The Monegasque driver, who had qualified for the Grand Prix in sixth place, was among the few cars that made the daring early switch to slick tires amid the scattered patches of rain around the circuit. However, this decision proved counterproductive, as Leclerc lost significant lap time and found himself running well off the pace of the front-runners.

Leclerc attempted to salvage what remained of his race by switching back to intermediate tires and later another set of dry tires. However, the Ferrari driver clattered into former teammate Carlos Sainz during his final stint and ultimately finished his outing around the Northamptonshire circuit in 14th place.

Reflecting on what he could take as a positive from his largely underwhelming outing, Leclerc chose to focus on the performance of teammate Lewis Hamilton. After the race, Charles Leclerc said (via CANAL+):

“The only positive point is Lewis's performance. At least I'll be able to observe him to try to understand where I went in the wrong direction. I think I have an idea. My setup works pretty well in the dry, but this was complicated.”

While it was undoubtedly a torrid race for Leclerc, Hamilton—who also had his fair share of difficulty—managed to finish fourth. The British driver, racing in front of his home crowd, equalled his best race result since joining the Ferrari team.

Fred Vasseur speaks on Charles Leclerc’s British GP race

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur weighed in on Charles Leclerc’s outing during the British Grand Prix. The 57-year-old was quick to defend his driver while reflecting on his performance.

Vasseur, who spoke to the media following the conclusion of the rain-affected race, explained that Charles Leclerc made a mistake as he appeared to misjudge the weather conditions at the start of the Grand Prix. Sharing his thoughts as quoted by Auto Racer, he stated:

"It's easy to say now that Charles made a mistake at the start of the race, but at that moment he had a strong feeling and chose to change to slicks. Before the race, there were also some problems. We were supposed to start with intermediates, then it dried out, then it started raining again, it was supposed to rain again. There was a bit of confusion about the conditions."

"Today he took this gamble but he immediately understood that it was the wrong choice. I don't want to say that it doesn't matter, but I think we have still shown an improvement in terms of pure performance and we have to go to Spa starting from this base," he added.

While Charles Leclerc endured a forgettable outing at the British Grand Prix, it must be noted that the Monegasque driver remains the better of the Ferrari pair so far this season. In the 12 races held during the 2025 campaign, Leclerc has recorded four podium finishes, with teammate Hamilton yet to register any. The 27-year-old will now shift his focus toward the next race, the Belgian Grand Prix, to bounce back with a podium finish.