Sun Dec 07 14:10:00 UTC 2025: Ferrari Sees Mixed Qualifying in Season Finale: Leclerc P5, Hamilton Misses Q2

[City, Date] – Ferrari experienced a rollercoaster of a qualifying session at the season-ending Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc securing a solid fifth place on the grid while Lewis Hamilton suffered a shock elimination in Q1.

The final practice session, run in significantly hotter conditions than expected for qualifying and the race, saw both Ferrari drivers initially optimistic about their car balance. However, disaster struck for Hamilton halfway through the session. Pushing hard through Turn 9, the rear of his car stepped out, sending him crashing into the barriers.

The Ferrari mechanics worked tirelessly to repair Hamilton’s car in time for qualifying. Both drivers started Q1 on Medium tyres before switching to soft compounds. The session was incredibly tight, with mere hundredths of a second separating the field. Unfortunately, Hamilton missed the cut, leaving him a disappointing starting position.

Track evolution proved significant throughout the evening. In Q2, Leclerc utilized two sets of new soft tyres to secure the sixth-fastest time, comfortably progressing to Q3.

In the final qualifying session, Leclerc extracted the most from his remaining two sets of new soft tyres, setting consistently good laps and securing a fifth-place start.

“I’m satisfied with my lap in Q3 and I don’t think there was much more to extract today,” said Leclerc. “I feel that our team has done a really good job in turning things around this weekend. We made some changes on the set-up between FP2 and FP3, and if paid off. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, to see if the changes we made will also help us to get ahead in the race. We can’t get our hopes up too high, because the cars ahead are very fast. It’s up to us to maximise our result tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to take action at the start and hope to bring home a last podium for our whole team this season.”

A dejected Hamilton admitted, “Clearly it wasn’t the result we were aiming for today. The team did a great job after FP3, in getting the car ready in time for qualifying, but a mistake in the last sector cost us. I know this track well and I’ll be aiming to deliver a more positive result for the team tomorrow.”

Team Principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged the mixed fortunes. “Overall, we are happy with Charles’ result, as we had a very tough time in both Friday sessions and when it came to deciding on today’s set-up we were quite aggressive and it paid off.” He further commented on Hamilton’s struggles, “It’s been difficult for Lewis, because he did not drive in FP1, having given up his seat to Arthur, and then came the crash halfway through FP3 and in this kind of situation where there are only two tenths separating P4 and P18 if you miss so much running, it’s too much to recover from. You can’t produce a performance based just on FP2.”

Vasseur concluded, “Now let’s focus on how to do the best possible for our team to get the best result to end the season well.”

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