Between signing Lewis Hamilton and steadily improving in 2024, hopes were high for the Scuderia Ferrari team heading into 2025. Those hopes have yet to be realized.

Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have raised concerns about the team’s latest challenger, the SF-25, prompting team principal Fred Vasseur to defend the team’s direction.

Vasseur says Ferrari concept not to blame

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Despite finding strong pace in the latter half of 2024, Ferrari decided that its SF-24 should be “a completely new car.”

The Scuderia made a swap from its traditional push-rod front suspension to opt for a pull rod layout, leading technical director Loic Serra to explain to the F1 website, “The thinking behind this change in architecture was to clean up the airflow around the car while also giving greater scope for further aero development, which had pretty much been exhausted with the previous iteration.”

Other major changes include an increased wheelbase that allowed the sidepods to begin further behind the wheels, which in turn should better control the flow of air around the car.

But those changes haven’t translated into instant performance, and even a floor upgrade in Bahrain has failed to turn the tides.

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Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have raised concerns about the SF-25, particularly as it pertains to its performance when contrasted to that of McLaren or Mercedes.

Naturally, the media was curious about team principal Fred Vasseur’s take on the affair, and after the race, he was asked about Leclerc’s statement that the car was lacking in overall performance.

“I think it has nothing to do with the concept,” Vasseur replied.

“I think that first the picture is that from session to session it’s a bit different. You can have some stints where we are fighting with the McLaren — the sprint race in China, or the second stint in Bahrain today.

“But overall, if you have a look at the average of the season, I think we are missing two, three, four tenths.

“I don’t know, but we are missing something.

“It means that we have to continue to work and downforce is a component of this, but when you have a look at the situation, they will seem also much better when the conditions are a bit more extreme, way more tyre management.”

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