SINGAPORE - A deflated Charles Leclerc said it is "not a nice feeling" to have reassessed expectations around Ferrari's uncompetitive car while watching the team's rivals duke it out for wins ahead.
While Ferrari is yet to win a race in 2026, rivals McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes have all won at least twice, and all three have had a victory since the August summer break.
George Russell gave Mercedes its second of the year at Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix while Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton laboured to a distant sixth and eighth respectively, as both struggled with brake issues.
"From lap eight, basically it was all about managing those brakes," Leclerc said on Sunday. "It made our race very, very tricky".
Footage of Leclerc having to lift and coast while being passed by Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has gone viral since the end of the race.
Leclerc gave a frank assessment of where Ferrari is at in the competitive order.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the race car to fight with the guys in front," Leclerc said on Sunday night. "McLaren always had the same gap on us compared to the beginning of the year. Red Bull did a step from Monza and the same level of McLaren.
"Mercedes now is at the same level of McLaren and Red Bull, and then there's us, and, it's not easy, obviously, because you want to fight for better positions. But at the moment, it just feels like we [are] kind of passengers to the car and we cannot extract much more what's there to salvage from the rest of the season."
This time last year, Ferrari was resurgent and taking the fight to McLaren in the constructors' championship.
Ferrari took that battle to the final race of the year, where Lando Norris' victory was enough just to get McLaren over the line.
But Ferrari has not matched McLaren's pace this season -- the British team wrapped up this year's championship on Sunday, with six races to space.
That perhaps highlights how good McLaren has been but also serves as a stark reminder of just how badly Ferrari dropped off the pace after its tense fight in 2024.
Leclerc tried to put on a brave face about things when quizzed on his overall season.
"I wouldn't describe it as the most difficult [season]," Leclerc said. "I think every time you don't fight for wins, it's difficult, but obviously, coming from a year like last year, where you are fighting for the World Champion, the World Constructor Championship, and then you come here with high expectations.
"You have to lower your expectations from the beginning, and you don't even see a progression throughout the year... It's not easy."
When asked if it is difficult to manage the deflating feeling of a year like 2025, he replied: "Yes, I mean, it takes a lot of energy, but that doesn't demotivate me... it motivates me, if anything, much more to try and turn the situation around.
"But it's, I mean, it's very tough, especially after a race like today, where you are not even fighting for a podium, you have to manage lots of issues. It's just not a nice feeling."