Ferrari has endured a tough start to the 2025 season, followng a dissapointing Japanese Grand Prix in which Charles Leclerc finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton seventh.
The Maranello-based squad are without a podium from the first three races of 2025, having struggled to match the performance of rivals McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes.
Aside from Hamilton’s Sprint race victory in China, Leclerc’s fourth place in Japan is their best finish to date which puts them in a similar spot to the 2024 season.
Ferrari managed to turn around their fortunes and challenge for the Constructors’ Championship by the end of the season, but ultimately missed out to McLaren who had a much more consistent run.
They arrived in Japan having made changes to their car, following a double disqualification for a technical infringement for Leclerc and Hamilton. According to a report from AutoRacer.it, these changes have now impacted their car’s performance significantly on track.
Ferrari dealing with aftermath of ‘crippling’ problem with SF-25
Hamilton’s car was thrown out of the Chinese GP due to a skid block infringement, which is usually only a problem when the car is run too low.
Ride height has been a key component of getting the best out of the current cars since the reintroduction of ground effects in 2022, and it is not the first time Ferrari has been disqualified for this technicial infraction.
Ferrari had to increase the ride height for the Japanese GP which has now exposed another issue with the car. According to the report, the car is “structurally too soft” at the rear which makes it more prone to wearing out the legality plank.
The team chose to risk it in China knowing there was only one practice session potentially to get it right, due to the fact that it was a Sprint weekend. Hamilton made a setup change for the race which turned out to not only make him slower, but also lead to the disqualification.
The report states that it is around 3mm of height, costing them around three to four-tenths to McLaren. It goes to show just how fine the margins the teams are having to play with in the cars.
Frederic Vassuer not too disheartened about slow Ferrari start
McLaren has emerged from the first three races of the season with a significant lead in the Constructors’ Championship, with Ferrari already 76 points behind them.
Team principal Fred Vasseur believes Ferrari can draw on its own experience last season, and expects them to find more performance in the upcoming races where they have a lot of existing knowledge.
“If last year we did a good step forward from the beginning of the season to the mid-season or whatever, it is not because we found a magic bullet, we would never find something on the car worth three or four tenths,” Vasseur told F1.com.
Hamilton was frustrated with the Ferrari pit board during the Japanese GP, perhaps showing there is also a few operational things they need to sort out before they become contenders for the title.
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