Ferrari star Charles Leclerc has been out of contention for the Drivers’ Championship for a while now. His continued struggles to succeed with the Prancing Horse form part of a bigger issue with the team.
A recent stat highlighted on X underscored just how far the team has fallen over the last few years.
Ferrari and Charles Leclerc Are Trending in the Wrong Direction
Daniel Valente on X posted about an interesting stat regarding Leclerc’s time at Ferrari. He highlighted how the driver led 311 laps in 2022, but has led only 261 laps combined in the three seasons since.
“Charles Leclerc led 311 laps in 2022,” he captioned the tweet. “He’s led only 261 laps combined in the 3 seasons since then.”
The shocking stat is yet another reminder of how far the Italian outfit has fallen, not only since the Schumacher era but also since the ground-effect era started.
In 2022, the Monegasque was in strong contention for a title when he finished second behind Red Bull star Max Verstappen. Consistently scoring in the top 10 wasn’t enough, though, as he suffered some retirements throughout the campaign. After a strong start, a midseason slump largely pulled him out of contention, and he lost the title to Verstappen with four races left.
The following 2023 season saw Leclerc drop significantly back in terms of championship contention. He didn’t win a single race and even finished behind Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin. With a Ferrari that was off pace more often than not, he couldn’t even score half as many points as the season champion, Verstappen.
The 2024 campaign showed some optimism again, as Leclerc finished third behind Verstappen and Lando Norris as McLaren started its surge to the top. Ferrari logged consistent finishes across the span of the season to claim P2 in the constructors’ race. The Monegasque recorded three wins and was in tight contention with Norris for second in the title chase.
Despite Lewis Hamilton coming on board, the 2025 season has proven to be yet another miss for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc is currently sitting in a virtual no-man’s land in fifth place, practically out of contention for P4, which is securely held by Mercedes’s George Russell, who leads him by a substantial 62 points. Hamilton trails immediately behind Leclerc in sixth, struggling to fend off the challenge posed by Mercedes’s secondary driver, rookie Kimi Antonelli.
In the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari still maintains a faint, outside shot at securing third place. However, to achieve this, the team will need to significantly outscore Red Bull—a monumental task, given that Max Verstappen is almost single-handedly carrying the entirety of his team’s points tally. The upcoming race in Las Vegas will be crucial and promises to be an engaging battle that will ultimately determine Ferrari’s final standing in this disappointing season.