Lewis Hamilton handed 2025 boost in key Charles Leclerc admission

Ferrari F1 star Charles Leclerc has admitted he isn't giving up on the Scuderia's 2025 championship season just yet, despite the curious benefit that would come with finishing lower in the constructors' championship.

When F1 returned for the 2025 campaign at the Australian Grand Prix back in March, expectations were high surrounding Leclerc's new team-mate, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

The former Mercedes star had finally made the jump to the Italian F1 outfit and had championship success on his mind, but come the summer break, Hamilton has failed to win a single grand prix and Ferrari are only 24 points ahead of his former team.

Realistically, the Scuderia will be lucky if they can cling on to P2 in the constructors' come December, with Hamilton already stating that his focus has shifted to ensuring the 2026 car is more to his liking.

Speaking during an FIA press conference at the Hungarian Grand Prix last time out, however, Leclerc gave the 40-year-old reason to hold out hope for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.

The Monegasque star was asked whether he thought second place in the team standings at the end of this year was better than finishing third, even if it meant less wind tunnel time in 2026.

Leclerc then detailed where Ferrari's priorities lie, suggesting that the team will not be giving up on their 2025 season, which may potentially allow both Hamilton and Leclerc to pick up a few more podiums as the season goes on.

"I'm pretty sure it's better to finish second than third," Leclerc said. "However, as you said, there's also the wind tunnel time. This is not something we think of too much. When we are on track, we just want to finish as high up as possible and then we'll deal with whatever amount of hours in the wind tunnel we have. "

Hamilton's Ferrari team-mate willing to make 2026 sacrifice

Under the current regulations, wind tunnel time is allocated based on a sliding scale of aerodynamic testing allowance.

The rule was introduced in 2021 in line with the cost-cap regulations, meaning that the lower down the constructors' championship a team finishes, the more time they get to do vital wind tunnel testing runs.

But Leclerc is adamant Ferrari aren't happy with finishing lower than P2 simply to get more testing time, adding: "We want to target the highest possible. Second place in the constructors’ is one of our targets, but the biggest target is to come back to winning races as soon as possible. Wherever we finish, we'll work from there and see how many hours we have next year."

If the Maranello-based F1 team truly are targeting a comeback in the second half of the 2025 campaign, fans could finally see Hamilton join Leclerc on the podium after a grand prix.

So far in his maiden season, Hamilton's best grand prix finish is fourth, whereas Leclerc, who hasn't been without struggle, has finished on the podium five times alongside frontrunners Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

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