"We got the Pope praying for Ferrari before GTA 6": Fans react to John Elkann giving Charles Leclerc's steering wheel to the Pope

Fans reacted as Ferrari's Chairman, John Elkann, met Pope Leo XIV and presented him with Charles Leclerc's steering wheel of the SF-25. This was in a special ceremony held in Vatican City, and Elkann also gifted other memorabilia to the Pope.

The two clicked pictures together before Elkann moved on to offering the Pope special gifts he brought from the Ferrari factory. One of these was a steering wheel that Charles Leclerc had used in a previous race.

"This is a real steering wheel? From the real car?" The Pope questioned.

"This is to remind you of your passion for driving and to drive. This is more for fun," Elkann replied.

Being an Italian team, Ferrari has been close to Vatican City and the previous Popes in history. The brand and the team share a long history filled with heritage and success in racing. However, their recent years have been rather difficult.

This season has been one of Ferrari's worst in Formula 1, considering they haven't won a single race so far; moreover, one of their cars hasn't been on the podium, either.

Considering the situation, fans dropped quite a few hilarious comments as John Elkann met with the Pope and presented him with Charles Leclerc's steering wheel.

Eruptic/ EliGE IS OUT ♥️ KICK NEO 💔

@ErupticHD

We got the Pope praying for Ferrari before GTA 6

Pain

@ASAP_Pain_

@formularacers_ @romereports Even God can’t help Ferrari at this point

Pratty

@pratty_prat

@formularacers_ @romereports They’ll try every trick in the book but not build a good car

Some also joked about the particular issues that the drivers have faced with the cars this season.

Tackle on the Tarmac

@tackle_on

@formularacers_ @romereports Did the Pope ask about the Lift and coast issue that Ferrari are having right now ? Maybe god can help Ferrari fix their car .

Yash

@yashv011

@formularacers_ @romereports Leclerc got more public value than ham now💀

nothing is cute

@hauntedbyshoes

@formularacers_ @romereports Instead of fixing the car, they are looking for divine intervention

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Charles Leclerc reveals Ferrari's struggles in cold conditions

As mentioned, Ferrari has struggled with pace this season, which has caused them a huge loss in the Constructors' Championship. A similar form was observed during the 2025 Azerbaijan GP, as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton struggled with pace for most of the race.

They were expected to perform better after topping the charts during FP2; however, Hamilton was once again disqualified from Q2 during qualifying, starting P12. Leclerc, meanwhile, crashed during his qualifying run and started P10.

Reviewing the weekend, Charles Leclerc mentioned that the SF-25 fails to perform under colder conditions, and Baku had been relatively cold during race day, which hampered their performance.

"It's always easy to blame the car and I think overall the car this weekend hasn't been the strongest and it's been a difficult weekend," he said (via F1).

"We have some explanations, first is probably the approach that I've had on the set-up, which hasn't been the right one. Second, I think our car is struggling whenever it's cool and it's been quite cold since yesterday and that made us struggle."

The team dropped to third place in the Constructors' Championship, as George Russell's podium and Kimi Antonelli's P4 finish gave Mercedes enough points to get ahead of their competitors.