Ferrari has emerged as the team to beat at Monaco, with even McLaren's Zak Brown conceding that Charles Leclerc is simply too fast this weekend.
After a breakthrough home win in Monte Carlo last year, Leclerc has returned in 2025 with the same distinctive high-downforce rear wing – and it appears to be working just as well.
"The big wing seems to be working well again," smiled RTBF's Gaetan Vigneron.
Yet in the lead-up to the event, Ferrari's own expectations were muted.
"Why? Because our weakness since the beginning of the year has been slow corners," said team principal Frederic Vasseur to RMC.
"But hey, it seems to be going pretty well so far," he added with a laugh.
"We could hardly have done better, even if I think McLaren was hiding its game a bit."
That optimism was soon echoed by rival teams. McLaren CEO Zak Brown openly acknowledged Ferrari's current dominance in Monaco.
"Ferrari are faster than us," he said. "At the moment, I don't see how we can beat Leclerc."
He added that the pecking order for now looks like "Ferrari-McLaren-Red Bull", admitting the red cars are "honestly fast."
Red Bull had briefly looked like they might also be back in contention, following the Imola breakthrough. In Monaco, Helmut Marko sounded hopeful after the early practice runs.
"We're at the top of our game here. We haven't been this good in Monte Carlo for a long time," he said.
But by the second session, issues reappeared. Marko admitted Verstappen was struggling again with understeer: "It came back."
Speculation is swirling that a quiet intervention by the FIA may have curbed McLaren's edge — specifically a controversial brake and tyre cooling system. While unconfirmed, the timing of Ferrari's resurgence and McLaren's slight drop-off has fuelled rumours.
Still, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was quick to defend McLaren's integrity.
"You've got to take it on the chin if somebody has done some good engineering," he said. "We have no doubt there is a millimetre of being not in a legal place."
