Ferrari’s highly anticipated rear-suspension upgrade has reportedly passed a key test ahead of its debut at Lewis Hamilton’s home race at the British Grand Prix.

After the hype of pre-season, Ferrari have endured a challenging start to the F1 2025 campaign with just one podium finish from the first seven races.

‘Important’ Ferrari upgrade passes test ahead of British GP introduction

It emerged early on that the Scuderia have been battling issues with the rear of the car, with the SF-25 found to be running too close to the ground in practice at the Australian Grand Prix before Hamilton was disqualified for excessive skid-block wear in China a week later.

Hamilton confirmed at last month’s Japanese Grand Prix that Ferrari have been forced to run the car “higher than we would like” ever since in order to combat the issue with the performance of the SF-25 compromised as a result.

Reports in Italy last week claimed that Ferrari are working on a ‘bold’ upgrade to the rear suspension to rectify the issue, allowing the team to run the car closer to the ground and therefore access more of its underlying potential in the second half of the season.

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The fundamental architecture of the suspension will not alter, with Ferrari and customer outfit Haas the teams on the current grid to use a pullrod suspension layout at the rear.

However, the tweak will reportedly allow Ferrari to achieve ‘a more extreme mechanical setup’ with the SF-25 going forward.

It was claimed last week that the upgrade would arrive around the time of the Austrian Grand Prix in late June.

However, a fresh report by Italian publication Corriere della Sera has claimed that the rear suspension is now expected to debut at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – the scene of Hamilton’s penultimate victory for Mercedes in 2024 – a week later.

It is said that the upgrade has passed the dynamic bench test at Maranello and is now being subjected to evaluation in the wind tunnel.

Further refinements are expected to be made to the part before it is fully signed off to be fitted to the SF-25 with changes in the ‘attachment area’ forthcoming.

The new rear suspension is described as ‘the most important and eagerly awaited’ of Ferrari’s season.

Although the part is highly unlikely to see Ferrari re-enter the conversation for this year’s World Championship, it is said that being seen to be ‘giving up’ would risk ‘devastating consequences’ for the team.

That has seen Ferrari commit to keep developing the SF-25 car for this season despite the ongoing work on Project 678, the unofficial name of the team’s 2026 car, for next year’s regulation changes.

In a surprise move, meanwhile, the report adds that Ferrari are also expected to bring back the rear wing off last year’s SF-24 to boost their hopes at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc claimed an emotional win at his home race in Monte Carlo last year during Ferrari’s strongest season in some years as the team fell just 14 points short of champions McLaren in the race for the Constructors’ title.

Ferrari currently sit fourth, 165 points adrift of McLaren, entering this year’s Monaco GP.

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The update on Ferrari’s rear-suspension upgrade came after team principal Fred Vasseur leapt to the defence of technical director Loic Serra following the team’s underwhelming start to F1 2025.

With Serra starting work at Maranello last October following the announcement of his predecessor Enrico Cardile’s switch to Aston Martin, Vasseur argued that “90 per cent” of the SF-25 was already “defined” by the time the former Mercedes engineer arrived.

“When Loic arrived in Maranello six months ago, the current car was already defined, let’s say, 90 per cent,” Vasseur said ahead of last weekend’s Emilia Romagna GP.

“Then, of course, it depends on each individual element, but the basic design decisions had already been made.

“I’m talking about the weight distribution, the wheelbase, the overall concept. It’s something that affects all teams when the technical leadership changes.”

“Ninety-five per cent of the team is the same as the one that participated in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 projects.

“I am convinced that if a project has problems, it does not mean that the structure does not work.

“I have great confidence in our team; We know we have to improve, but that’s a constant in motorsport.

“Even if you’re in first place, you know you have to keep improving; otherwise, you expose yourself to attacks from your rivals.

“Looking back on this year, we probably made mistakes with the car; we have to do better.”

Serra is believed to have played a key role in Ferrari’s rear-suspension upgrade for Silverstone, with his expertise believed to be in the area of suspension components like shock absorbers and torsion bars.

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