As Red Bull slowly lost ground, shifting their focus to Verstappen and the drivers’ crown, it was Ferrari and McLaren who fought for last year’s team Championship.
Fine margins separated the two F1 titans, with McLaren narrowly taking the title in Abu Dhabi. Despite the papaya team’s victory, Ferrari made impressive progress in the second half of the season.
This puts both teams in a very good place ahead of 2025. Early reports suggest they could be neck-and-neck once more.
Ferrari and McLaren brace for another title battle
For more than a decade, Mercedes and Red Bull have taken turns in winning the F1 drivers’ standings.
Although some Championship were more dominant than others, the German and Austrian outfits have been the reference in F1 for some time.
Because of this, seeing McLaren and Ferrari become front-runners in 2024 is hugely significant.
Andrea Stella’s team built upon their 2023 trajectory to out-develop their rivals last season, with their Miami update package catapulting Norris into title contention.
Meanwhile, Ferrari rebounded impressively from a bogey upgrade package in Spain – reasserting themselves as contenders after Monza.
The 2025 season is the final year of these regulations, meaning that improvements across the field could be relatively limited.
The kind of stratospheric gains that Aston Martin unlocked between 2022 and 2023 are unlikely.
Instead, teams will generally introduce enhanced versions – evolutions rather than revolutions – of their 2024 challengers.
Fine margins at the top
With this in mind, early reports that McLaren expect a 5 tenth improvement to start 2025 are not altogether unsurprising.
Team principal Andrea Stella confirms that McLaren’s winter progress is comparable to their mid-season gains last year.
Having established a very reliable baseline for development, the Woking-based operation can be more confident than others about their trajectory.
Unlike Mercedes or even Red Bull, their improvements should be consistent different types of circuit.
The papaya team’s main rivals, Ferrari, have promised significant changes to their 2025 challenger. The SF-25, as revealed by Fred Vasseur, will consist of completely different components to its predecessor.
With Maranello’s engineers satisfied with the platform established last year in Monza, Ferrari are opting for a substantively new car in 2025.
According to reports from Corriere in Italy, the Scuderia anticipate improvement of approximately 4 tenths.
This puts them in a very similar position to McLaren, assuming neither team drastically surpasses or falls short of these figures.
Little margin for error
Of course, making assumptions is a dangerous game in F1. This generation of cars in particular has revealed immense of unpredictability between the simulator and the track.
Still, all indications suggest Ferrari will join McLaren as early favourites in 2025.
Both outfits enjoyed relatively stable growth last year, and expect to carry that momentum into pre-season testing and round one in Australia.
Speaking of testing, given the miniscule margins that separate the front-runners, a smooth three days of running in Bahrain could make the difference.
Elsewhere on the grid, Mercedes and Red Bull will work to overcome last year’s difficulties and challenge for the title.
Nothing concrete emerged about either team’s winter progress, though it should be noted the FIA’s new flexi-wing technical directive could impact Red Bull more than McLaren.
With Lewis Hamilton joining Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, the stage is set for a mouth-watering battle for the Championship.
