Ferrari endured another painful blow in Brazil as Charles Leclerc finished the Sprint qualifying in P8, visibly frustrated and out of answers in a season where the SF-25 continues to collapse under pressure.

The Monegasque posted a 1:09.725, finishing 0.482s behind Lando Norris, who stormed to pole with a 1:09.243, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotted into P2, another reminder that Mercedes is rising while Ferrari is sinking fast.

“I’m not happy. The car was very, very slow today. It didn’t feel that bad, but we are slow. We need to work and improve for tomorrow,” Leclerc told Motorsport.com. The tone was familiar: frustration has become the soundtrack inside the Ferrari garage.

The issues were the usual suspects: lack of rotation, insufficient downforce in slow and medium-speed corners, and what internal reports have labeled a “chronic” handling problem. The car understeers, loses stability under braking, and punishes every attempt to attack Interlagos, a circuit that instantly exposes structural flaws.

Things went even worse for Lewis Hamilton, who ended up P11 after a strategic mistake prevented him from completing his final lap before the flag. It’s already the second time in 2025 that the Briton misses SQ3 in a Sprint format, repeating the disaster from Belgium.

Zooming out, the picture is undeniable: McLaren is the benchmark, Red Bull is scrambling to recover with Verstappen, Mercedes is gaining ground, and Ferrari… Ferrari is stuck in neutral. With three races left, technical tweaks won’t cut it, the team needs a structural reset if it wants any semblance of competitive dignity to close the season.

Interlagos once again delivered the harsh truth: Ferrari’s biggest rival isn’t the stopwatch, it’s its own car.