Ferrari have not let the final year of the regulations stop them from making changes to Lewis Hamilton’s new car but a change outside their control has pleased Fred Vasseur.
The Scuderia have welcomed Hamilton to Maranello this term to partner Charles Leclerc. He has defected from Mercedes with an initial two-year contract as the 13th Briton to race with Ferrari. Hamilton will hope racing in red leads to his eighth Formula 1 drivers’ championship.
Hamilton has joined Ferrari in the fourth and last year of the current ground-effect technical regulations. Yet the Scuderia have still overhauled most of their package with the SF-25 now featuring pull rather than push-rod front suspension after moving more in line with Red Bull.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur glad the FIA avoided ‘a mess’ clamping down on flexi front wings
The SF-25 hit a track for its first laps on Wednesday as Hamilton and Leclerc tested Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car at Fiorano by using up one of their filming days. Teams and drivers have just one official pre-season test at the home of the Bahrain Grand Prix this year from February 26-28.
Further changes are in the pipeline, too, after the FIA confirmed all F1 teams must have new front wings by the Spanish Grand Prix. The FIA is clamping down on flexible wings, with new rear-wing tests introduced for the start of the season before stronger front-wing tests follow.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory
Ferrari team principal Vasseur is glad the FIA confirmed the changes regarding flexible front wings before the 2025 Formula 1 season has started. He admits it ‘would have been a mess’ had the changes come after the first few rounds with teams rushing to produce new wings.
“It’s good to have clarity,” Vasseur has told Race Fans. “The most important [thing] for me is to know that we have to change something on the front wing by Barcelona, for example.
“You can discuss about the timing because it’s the week after Monaco and we need to come to Monaco with a full package of front wings. But, at the end of the day, it’s good for us, it’s good for the development and the [production] to know when we have to bring something.
“The worst-case scenario [would have been that] we would have to start the season like we are today and in two or three races to come with a TD to change something because it’s much more difficult to [design a new front wing] in this case. It would have been a mess.
“But, honestly, we all know the situation. We were all planning to bring an upgrade on the front wing during the season and, like this, we know that we’d have to do it by Barcelona.”
| RANK | DRIVER | JOINED | LEFT | WINS |
| =1 | John Surtees | 1963 | 1966 | 4 |
| =1 | Eddie Irvine | 1996 | 1999 | 4 |
| =3 | Mike Hawthorn | 1953 | 1958 | 3 |
| =3 | Peter Collins | 1956 | 1958 | 3 |
| =3 | Nigel Mansell | 1989 | 1990 | 3 |
| 6 | Tony Brooks | 1959 | 1959 | 2 |
McLaren urged the FIA to clamp down on flexible front wings in fear of Ferrari
While Vasseur is glad the FIA clamped down on flexible front wings before the season starts at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, Ferrari and their drivers Hamilton and Leclerc will hope the team do not lose a lot of performance once the new tests arrive at the Spanish GP.
READ MORE: Five unforgettable Italian GP from Lauda’s return to Verstappen vs Hamilton
The Scuderia were one of the outfits to benefit most from the existing wing tests creating a bit of scope for wings to flex at high speeds. So much so that some F1 crews including Red Bull believe McLaren pressured the FIA to act on flexible front wings as they feared Ferrari.
McLaren moved earlier than most to exploit the scope in the regulations to design a flexible front wing to improve their balance between grip in slow corners and high-speed stability. It was not until Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix that Ferrari raced with a flexible front wing.
