This time last season, Ferrari had already notched up two Grand Prix victories with Carlos Sainz winning in Australia and Charles Leclerc completing a maiden victory on his home streets of Monaco. With the fastest car over the final six race weekends of 2024, expectations for this year with Lewis Hamilton joining the team were high.
The Scuderia found themselves 74 points behind McLaren heading into the triple header starting in Texas, but come the chequered flag at there seasons finale the deficit had been reduced to just 14 points. Yet despite the current car design regulations moving into their final season, the Italians decided to build an entirely new car for this year’s competition, with Fred Vasseur claiming the 2025 Ferrari “will share less than 1 percent” of components with its predecessor.
While McLaren have gone from strength to strength with the evolution of their 2024 car, Ferrari have struggled with only four Grand Prix podiums for Charles Leclerc and a Sprint win in China for Hamilton. The Scuderia lie second in the constructors’ title race, but have less than half the points of the runaway leaders McLaren.
Leclerc ‘pipped’ to pole
The Hamilton ‘boost’ many expected has failed to materialise with Leclerc finishing ahead of him 10-2 at the halfway point of the season. In qualifying Lewis numbers in red look better, but he still trails his team mate 8-4 and is on average 0.133 seconds slower than his Monegasque team mate across the season to date.
The SF-25 simply lacks the pace of its competitors, but there have been moments when things may well have been different for Ferrari had the luck gone their way instead. In Monaco, Charles Leclerc set the fastest time on the first run of the final qualifying session, only to be beaten by Lando Norris who had an extra set of fresh tyres to use.
So like for like on the tyres, Ferrari were quicker than McLaren and with the final gap between Leclerc and Norris being just over a tenth of a second, the McLaren driver had enough in hand to set the fastest time ever recorded around the streets of the principality.
Ferrari had high hopes for the Canadian Grand Prix, but these were shattered when Charles Leclerc smashed his SF-25 into the barrier at turn three, during the early part of free practice one. The Monegasque was unable to take part in FP2 as his car was still undergoing a big rebuild.
Costly mistakes in Silverstone
The SF-25 looked fast in Silverstone at the British Grand Prix, but both Ferrari drivers made a number of mistakes on their final qualifying run, leaving Verstappen and Piastri to duke it out at the top of there time sheets. Yet despite having a car not suited to various track layouts, Jolyon Palmer believes success is just around the corner when speaking to the F1 Nation podcast:
“Yes. They will win a race before the end of the year,” said Palmer as he pondered the upcoming venues where Ferrari may well perform. “Singapore, they should have a good chance, when you look at the performance they had in Monaco,” said Palmer referring to the team’s one lap pace at street circuits.
Back in 2023, Carlos Sainz claimed the only non-Red Bull victory of the year around the streets of the Marina Bay Circuit, although neither driver made the podium last time around. Whilst a street circuit, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix circulating the roads of Baku has a huge start finish straight and high speed final sector, which is unlikely to suit the SF-25.
As Palmer acknowledges, the Scuderia always put on a good show for their home fans at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. “Even at Monza. They are always competitive at Monza. That would be the fairytale story for either driver.”
New improved rear suspension for Spa
Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix during his first year driving for Ferrari and in Belgium, the next race weekend ahead of us, he has won and collected two other podium positions in his six visits wearing the red overalls.
Ferrari will arrive in Spa Francorchamps this weekend with what has been billed as a major upgrade to the rear suspension of their SF-25. Since their double disqualification at the sedan round of this season in China, Ferrari have struggled to run the car at its optimum height due to insufficient damping.
The new dampers are expected to allow Ferrari to ru the car at its optimum height, but prevent some of the oscillations which have been occurring which cause excessive wear in the underfloor plank used by the FIA to regulate ride height.
This should deliver a better rear end feel for the drivers, something Hamilton has been complaining about since the start of the ground effect era of F1 car design back in 2022. Whilst the pace of Verstappen and the McLaren’s could be too much for the Ferrari duo in Spa, Hungary has been a happy hunting ground for Lewis and Joylan Palmer believes there could be a surprise coming in Budapest.
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Hungary – Hamilton’s ‘favourite’ track
“I still wouldn’t have thought Hungary would be the best track,” he cautioned. “But we’re talking about tiny amounts separating the best four teams. The theory was that slower speed shorter corners were better for Ferrari. But that’s the exact opposite of Silverstone where I didn’t expect them to be quick but they could have had a front row lockout.
“The form guide could throw anything up.”
It was after Singapore in 2024 when Ferrari finally found their feet, scoring 210 points across the final quarter of the season. McLaren hung on to dear life for their first constructors’ win since 1998, but it was Ferrari with their incoming star driver in Hamilton, who were expected to move ahead come the start of 2025.
Talk of team boss Fred Vasseur leaving has abated for the time being, as the Italian media gear up for the team’s home race in the Royal Park just north of Milan. Yet if the Ferrari team boss has not received his contract extension come the race in Monza, all bets are off on who will replace the liveable Frenchman.
Latest twist on Verstappen “huge Spa announcement”
In the latest episode of the Nailing the Apex podcast, Viaplay Formula One commentator Nelson Valkenburg found himself doing a few verbal pirouettes as he addressed the ever-swirling rumours around Max Verstappen’s future. This time, the Dutch broadcaster revisited whispers about a mysterious press conference allegedly planned for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend at Spa — an event that some suspected could signal a seismic shift in the F1 driver market.
With Verstappen’s long-term Red Bull contract increasingly looking more like a piece of decorative wallpaper than an iron-clad commitment, speculation about his potential move to Mercedes refuses to die down. And if Valkenburg’s latest musings are anything to go by, things might just be heating up ahead of the summer break’s halfway point….. READ MORE
