After their biggest update of the season so far, Ferrari appear to be heading in the right direction, picking up a solid haul of points in Bahrain.

The safety car certainly disrupted their race, but let’s take a look at the data — what kind of pace did the Ferrari drivers actually have, and how much of a difference did the new floor upgrade make?

First impressions of the upgraded Ferrari SF-25 weren’t positive

Already on the first day of the Bahrain race weekend, Charles Leclerc expressed clear frustration. It seemed that the previous issues with the car hadn’t been resolved, and even if the upgrades were “definitely working” in Lewis Hamilton’s view, any improvement in performance was barely noticeable.

Hamilton ran into trouble in qualifying, where his team-mate delivered a much stronger result – finishing P2 after penalties to both Mercedes drivers moved Russell down one place. Hamilton, on the other hand, ended up a disappointing P9, nearly six-tenths behind his team-mate.

The two were fairly even in Sector 1, but Hamilton’s issues became clear in Bahrain’s key corners — particularly T6, T7, and the slower sections like T11 and T13, where Leclerc had visibly better stability. It was yet another reminder of how fast Charles is in qualifying, and that Lewis is still adapting to the behaviour of the red car.

Ferrari and their different strategy once again

While the majority of the grid started the Bahrain Grand Prix on soft tyres, both Ferrari drivers opted for a different approach — the medium compound. That choice had an immediate effect, with Leclerc losing two positions on the opening lap to drivers who had started on the softs.

Leclerc maintained a decent pace in the first ten laps, but Piastri and Russell – who were both on the softs – were clearly quicker ahead of him.

On lap 11, Norris and Verstappen made their first pit stops, followed soon after by other drivers running ahead of the Ferraris. For a brief period, Leclerc and Hamilton were running 1–2, leading the race. At that point, it seemed Ferrari were aiming for a completely different strategy — likely a one-stop.

But in typical Ferrari fashion, everything changed unexpectedly. On lap 18, both drivers were called into the pits for a new set of medium tyres. This meant they’d have to pit once more before the race ended.

Key details after Bahrain GP

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Leclerc was clearly unhappy over team radio, requesting a plan “Delta” — a strategy we can only assume was designed around a single pit stop. A strange move from the Italian team, especially considering that both drivers now found themselves in traffic: Leclerc behind Gasly, and Hamilton down in P11 behind Tsunoda and Doohan.

Still, both Ferrari drivers managed to slice through the field with strong pace on the mediums — almost matching the lap times of race leader Piastri, who was running in clean air.

One possible explanation is that Ferrari’s engineers changed their minds after noticing that other drivers on hard tyres were struggling with pace. That may have led to a revised strategy — most likely finishing the race on a fresh set of softs.

But then came the safety car, deployed to clear debris off the track, and it completely disrupted their plan. At that moment, Leclerc was running P3, and Hamilton had worked his way up to P5.

During the safety car period, all five of the leading drivers opted to pit. Ferrari had limited options – switching to softs carried too much risk (a risk Russell took, but it didn’t really pay off). The only realistic choice left was the hard tyre.

Finding good pace on the hards proved difficult, and the opportunity to challenge Norris – who was significantly quicker – simply wasn’t there.

What could’ve happened without the safety car? We’ll never know for sure, but based on Ferrari’s excellent second-stint pace, it’s fair to assume their final result could have been far stronger.

Of course, the SF-25 still isn’t at the level it’s expected to be, but there’s no denying the team has made a clear step in the right direction.

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