The next phase of the 2025 season will be crucial in terms of development. Teams across the field are intensifying their efforts (in some cases for 2025, in others for 2026), as they utilise their allocation of wind tunnel hours.
Ferrari have work to do if they want to bridge the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull – let alone McLaren.
Upgrades are in the pipeline for Maranello, but there aren’t necessarily any immediate fixes.
Ferrari try to optimise their existing package
In the very early stages the season, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has spoken about the SF-25’s potential:
“As for everyone in the team, now more than ever, we must focus ourselves with the goal of enabling Charles and Lewis to consistently exploit the full potential of the SF-25.
“Because so far, we have only managed to do that on Fridays, and the Sprint in China.”
These were Vasseur’s reflexions before the Japanese GP, convinced there was more performance to be unlocked.
Since then, however, the evidence suggests that pure pace is the team’s biggest limitation.
This is not to say Ferrari haven’t admitted to set-up mistakes that have compromised them.
At the same time, their deficit to McLaren cannot solely be attributed to this.
Despite being the first team to bring major upgrades in 2025, the SF-25 remains fairly anonymous in all areas.
Considering that Mercedes and McLaren are yet to bring improvements, this stagnation is worrying.
Ferrari won’t bring major updates to the next two races in Imola and Monaco, according to Gazzetta.
Having already introduced some improvements, the Italian outfit must wait until the Spanish GP (where the FIA’s flexi-wing directive will be implemented) for reinforcements to arrive.
This could force Ferrari to settle for damage limitation, at least for the time being.
Like most teams, the Scuderia’s 2025 campaign could hinge upon the impact of the FIA’s upcoming technical directive.
However, even a mid-season blow to McLaren in Spain might not be enough to rescue Ferrari.
Ferrari pay the price for past errors
Thanks to the budget cap and wind tunnel restrictions F1 has become significantly more competitive in recent seasons.
Although some of the midfield are still catching up to the big teams in terms of infrastructure, the sport is now in a far more level playing field.
Simultaneously, these restrictions give teams very little margin for error with development.
If an upgrade package does not correlate accurately with factory data, it could take months to compensate for that inaccuracy.
In this sense, Ferrari’s troubles could accumulate throughout 2025.
Over the winter, the Scuderia made the decision to change their front suspension.
Curiously, Haas (who take many parts from Ferrari) opted against this change, instead opting to keep their push-rod suspension.
Given that Vasseur’s personnel made radical changes over winter to develop the SF-25, there are concerns about whether the car’s limitations are fundamental in nature.
If the team have pursued the wrong direction over winter, there is very little time to recover – especially relative to McLaren.
The team’s double DSQ in China was evidence that, despite pushing the limits with set-up, Ferrari are off the pace.
With upgrades not due for a few more rounds (and confidence in these updates quite limited) the Maranello squad face another challenging patch.
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Main photo: Ferrari Media Gallery
