Leclerc says brother’s FP1 appearance the ‘only positive’ from Friday in Abu Dhabi

Charles Leclerc hailed his younger brother Arthur’s Free Practice 1 appearance at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a “very special moment”, with the Monegasque suggesting that it was the “only positive” from Friday after another tough outing for Ferrari.

For the second year in a row, the Leclerc siblings participated in the opening practice hour at the Yas Marina Circuit as 25-year-old Arthur fulfilled the Scuderia’s final mandated rookie outing of the campaign.

The younger Leclerc logged 27 laps and placed in 16th on the timesheets – as well as taking a moment to poke fun at his older brother for “doing some burnouts” when the latter suffered a spin at Turn 5.

When asked about his brother’s remarks at the end of Friday’s running, Leclerc – who was third quickest in the session, before placing eighth in Free Practice 2 – smiled: “I actually didn’t know he said that on the radio – that’s cheeky from him!”

The 28-year-old went on to share how special it is to be on the circuit alongside his brother, adding: “It was incredible.

“It’s always a very special emotion to see my brother in a Formula 1 seat and to be sharing the track in Formula 1 with him when we were both dreaming of that moment when we were kids, so it’s a very special moment. However, unfortunately it was the only positive of today because the rest has been a struggle, but at least that gives me a little bit of a smile.”

Leclerc conceded that the team had “not yet” found any answers after reporting slow race pace in FP1.

“We are trying everything, but unfortunately there’s something that we are missing since two or three races that I don’t quite understand where it’s gone,” he explained. “But we are doing everything in trying to understand that and I hope we can find a solution before tomorrow’s Qualifying.”

For now Leclerc admitted that he is somewhat pleased to have completed his last Friday of the year at the wheel of the SF-25, with the eight-time race winner commenting: “I’m kind of happy about that, especially considering how it’s going at the moment, but I just really want to finish on a high.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to finish on a high if we continue like that, but I will do my best.”

Lewis Hamilton echoed those sentiments on the other side of the Ferrari garage. When asked for his feelings after the final Friday of the 2025 campaign, the Briton answered: “Thankful! No, I feel okay. I think obviously Arthur did a good job this morning.

“It’s always cool to watch youngsters come through and do what they do and see them shine. That ultimately puts whoever misses the session on a little bit of back foot, but I did my best to get up to speed as quick as possible, and obviously [I’ve] been faced with quite a difficult balance in this session so we’ve got some work to do.”

Despite the difficulties, Hamilton – who was 13th on the timesheets in FP2, his sole practice outing of the day – is still hoping for a step forward during the remainder of the weekend.

“I still have hope and there’s potential in this car,” the seven-time World Champion said. “My question to the guys is like, ‘There are certain issues that we have. These are my problems, help me fix them – what can we do to improve our ride and the bouncing that we have and the understeer?’

“So if we can fix those going into FP3, then I think we could be in a slightly better position. The first and second sector I was right there – pace-wise it wasn’t so bad, it’s just when I got to the third sector, it was seven tenths, so if I can fix that tomorrow I think we can do better.”