Leclerc hopes to create 'something special' with Ferrari victory in Mexico
Charles Leclerc has high hopes for the Mexican Grand Prix this evening, starting in second place ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton as they both aim to claim Ferrari's first victory this season.
The Ferrari driver shared that the team have the 'opportunity to create something special' as the duo qualified in second and third, hoping to clinch a victory for the Prancing Horse.
It is no secret that Ferrari's results this season have not been amazing, with the seven-time world champion Hamilton struggling to adjust to his new team.
With their best qualifying result yet, Leclerc and Hamilton both believe that they can match the pace of the Constructors' Champions, McLaren.
"It's an opportunity for us to try and make something special."- Charles Leclerc
After struggling on the medium tyres in FP3 and the early stages of qualifying, both Ferrari drivers switched to soft compound tyres and made their mark on the timesheets.
Leclerc told the press after qualifying: "I think the car was actually really good today.
"The whole weekend has been pretty strong. But on a track like this, it’s very difficult because it’s such a low grip track, and it’s very easy to make a mistake.
"Whatever small mistake you do is exaggerated in terms of lap time lost. So it was very tough, but I was pretty happy with both of my laps in Q3.
"I think the track got cooler in Q3, and that definitely helped. The grip was a little bit higher, and I felt in some corners I was a little bit under the limit, if anything.
"The car reacted well, and again, I don’t have anything to complain about car-wise."
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"He’s [Lando Norris] got the race pace too," Leclerc continued.
"We were speaking about it earlier. I think he will be very strong tomorrow for sure.
"But the start is definitely a chance for us — it's an opportunity for us to try and make something special, even though starting second here on the dirty side of the track.
"I'm not sure it’s great, but it's OK. I’ll just focus on what I can control and hopefully it will be enough to be alongside him into Turn 1."
Leclerc has so far managed to extract the better results from the SF-25, scoring six podiums this season despite the turbulent performance.
The Monegasque driver has also achieved better qualifying results this season, boasting a 14-5 qualifying result head-to-head over his teammate.
Poll
Hamilton, however, is still eager as ever to improve on Ferrari's performance, optimistic that the Italian team can perform well this weekend in Mexico.
With Hamilton qualifying in the preferrable third position, he also targets a victory or his first podium finish in a Grand Prix for his new team.
The Briton spent the first 18 years of his career in Formula 1 racing with a Mercedes engine, first with McLaren Mercedes, then with Mercedes AMG.
His shift to Ferrari has been admittedly difficult, but the seven-time world champion has confirmed that he is in it for the long run.
Hamilton shared Leclerc's sentiments of aiming for the victory, telling the press after qualifying: "I don’t know. Definitely want to be racy tomorrow.
"I don’t have anything to lose, but he [Norris] does. So I’ll be… Yeah, we’ll be quite aggressive, I’m pretty sure.
"Hopefully we’ll be close enough to put up a good fight."
Neither Ferrari driver has stood on the top step of a Grand Prix podium in 2025, but Hamilton did dominate the Sprint race in China to win his first race as a Ferrari driver.
However, Hamilton was then disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after a technical infringement with his skid block.
Since March, the Briton's results for Ferrari have been lacklustre with Hamilton scoring mostly P5 and P6s.
His last victory was at the Belgium Grand Prix in 2024, earning a record-breaking 105th win in his last season at Mercedes.
For his teammate, Leclerc, his most recent victory was also last summer in Austin, leading a Ferrari 1-2 alongside Carlos Sainz.
Both Ferrari drivers will be on the hunt for victory, with Hamilton desperate to become a winner for Ferrari and Leclerc hoping to challenge McLaren.
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