It had been clear for some time that the Rossa is no longer the same. When, with every attempt to fix things, only the frustration for results that were not coming was added. A set of things that should have taken into account the changes - from the drivers, to the team principals, up to the highest levels - and not just the desire to see new flags displayed on the factory walls in Maranello. And thanks to Leclerc, this mistake was clearly visible in these Silverstone qualifiers.
A situation that is only plausible in other categories. Like in the WEC, where Ferrari — after its sensational return in 2023 — made us dream by winning Le Mans in 2023 and 2024, and placing itself on the podium also in 2025, even without repeating the success. There, yes, the cars received sincere applause, liberating smiles, real tears. There, the Cavallino rediscovered a winning identity. A breather. A truce. In Formula 1, however, we still cling to illusions. With a few flashes — like the victories in 2022 or the double triumph in 2024 in Monte Carlo and Monza — but never a continuous trail. The victories that come and then disappear, as if the Reds were condemned to intermittent happiness. As if, every time they dare to believe, something brings them back down. If only then, the papaya — McLaren — hadn't come up with the idea of creating a missile, on a silent and declared mission: to stop Verstappen.
Verstappen doesn't give up, leaving gaps only for Norris and Piastri
Verstappen, precisely. Who didn't mince his words today either. Pole position at Silverstone and goodbye to Hamilton's string of poles, who had often been the protagonist here. And Lewis perhaps didn't expect it. After a miraculously saved Q2 and good free practice, here he is in the third row. A position that doesn't sit well with him, even if he prefers to gloss over it at the microphones. Unlike Leclerc, who instead arrives at the journalists with anger bursting in his chest. The radio team full of curses has built the perfect scene to do so: Charles takes the stage, and this time shows himself for who he is. Angry, frustrated, almost without filters (Editor's note: That "almost" would have disappeared, if there hadn't been the press there to silence him, for sure!)
Charles Leclerc: "I am so fucking shit. That's all I am." 💔#BritishGP 🇬🇧
— La Gazzetta Ferrari (@GazzettaFerrari) July 5, 2025
pic.twitter.com/T8U11VYSVL
He had no problem admitting that yes, Ferrari went bad. Again. Which yes, it's also their fault. And yes, “it sucks” — as he repeated three times on the team radio at the end of qualifying, condemning and damning himself for a mistake of a few tenths. It's that there's something, behind that car, that you don't understand. Or maybe you do, but there's no way to solve it.
So, the question is: whose fault is it? Of the driver, who cannot push the limits of the car like the Dutchman does? Or of the team, which hides behind optimistic statements while fueling suspicion - among fans and not only - that there is a structural, deep and unsolvable problem? Charles Leclerc has the face of someone who has seen too much, with words that go hand in hand and this time, it doesn't even seem to have been a strategic error.
The “unsaid” of the Rossa
A couple of drifts, some distractions and in an instant both drivers of the Reds see themselves overtaken even by Russell and his Mercedes. Charles with his curses in his helmet, destroyed and nose down, has a dull look. Another interview that weighs, that does not do justice to the Predestined of Monza 2024, to the one of Monte Carlo, to all those poles that today seem very far away. And that, perhaps, he knows he will no longer be able to chase any time soon.
“There are some things that are a little bit strange. They are more problems than balance. At the end of the day, my job is to drive – and I am doing that in the race – but in qualifying we are not there. I am struggling a lot.”
Charles Leclerc, speaking to Sky Sport F1, post-qualifying for the Silverstone GP
Statements that perhaps should have stopped the rumors. Those about Vasseur, about the track engineers, even about him. But this time Charles did not want to remain silent. That's the whole point: fatigue. So much. Too much. Number 16 doesn't want to be a diplomat anymore. “I'm tired of coming here every time and saying what went wrong… because by now you know it too“, he says, almost far from the microphones, looking elsewhere, perhaps at tomorrow. Because this Ferrari, second in the Constructors, on paper, should be in the running. But every time it stumbles on details that remain in the shadows.
The free throws have deceived and the Monegasque is not having it
Leclerc himself admits it, that it is not the fault of the updates. There is something else on the car… something that has never been talked about. And the problem is no longer the clean air to be found, instead we need to find a solution. A statement that makes you think of these Formula 1 races as a game of chess. With every correction, something goes wrong. And Charles stays there, holding the game, with the limit of patience seems close. It is no longer just the disappointment of a lap gone wrong. It's no longer just the machine that doesn't hold. It's a structural intolerance. A crevasse that widens. And that could end up swallowing everything. Trust too.
These Silverstone qualifiers, then, are not just another misstep. They are a thermometer. Of tension, of pressure, of expectations. And perhaps also the prelude to a choice. Of a crack that risks becoming definitive. We will see if the race will give different answers or just new questions. Because today, the Reds seem to speak a language that not even Leclerc understands anymore.
