Charles Leclerc gives one-word answer on whether Ferrari can win the 2025 championship

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Ferrari has endured one of its longest runs without a championship in its 70-year Formula 1 history.

The last time they were successful with a driver was Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 while the team managed to win the Constructors’ Championship in 2008, following a close battle between Felipe Massa and their driver for 2025 Lewis Hamilton.

There is a lot of anticipation that Ferrari could return to a title challenge next season, having become McLaren’s closest challenger in recent races with Charles Leclerc.

Although they suffered a slow start to their 2024 campaign, which led to questions over whether Hamilton made the right decision, Ferrari’s technical team is transitioning into a outfit that could yield success.

The big signing is Loic Serra joining as technical director, replacing long-time chassis leader Enrico Cardile who is moving to Aston Martin. Ferrari has also made some inroads on understanding the limitations of their current car concept, which was partially why they could pull off their unlikely victory at Monza.

Leclerc discussed their improvements and revealed whether he thinks it will be enough for them to challenge for the title, in an interview with The Race.

Charles Leclerc confident Ferrari can challenge for 2025 title

Ferrari brought a floor upgrade to the Italian GP which is intended to be the key part that will make their car a better all-rounder and less ‘peaky’ like they experienced last season.

While the team is yet to know if it adds the performance they want due to the outlier tracks recently visited such as the high speed and low-downforce Monza, then both the Baku and Singapore street circuits, Leclerc is confident they will make progress.

“We are seeing quite a lot of gains. We just need time to bring those upgrades on the car,” said Leclerc.

When asked if he thinks it means Ferrari can challenge for titles, Leclerc said: “Yes. It is.”

“Obviously it is a constant process that keeps evolving and the goal is to always make it better.”

David Coulthard makes Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc prediction

There is unlikely to be number one driver in the Ferrari hierarchy next season due to the team investing heavily already in the development of Leclerc, and Hamilton’s proven track record as a seven-time World Champion.

Leclerc is known for being accident-prone when pushing for a result, notably when he crashed on multiple occasions during qualifying last year and throughout the first half of the 2022 season when battling with wins with Max Verstappen.

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Former F1 driver David Coulthard believes that while Leclerc will be quicker than Hamilton on average, the Briton is likely to piece together more victories.

Ferrari has been praised for making encouraging progress in one area they were ‘dreadful’ last season, which will hopefully give drivers the encouragement they need to end their title drought.