Ferrari will ‘prioritise’ the new SF-25 car for ‘at least’ the first four months of F1 2025 before switching focus to Project 678 for the F1 2026 season.

That is according to a new report from Italy, putting the emphasis on Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to make a strong start to the new season.

Ferrari to ‘prioritise’ SF-25 car over Project 678 for ‘at least’ four months

The F1 2025 season marks the final year of the current regulations, with arguably the biggest rule changes in the sport’s history – featuring a move to 50 per cent electrification, fully sustainable fuels and active aerodynamics – arriving in 2026.

It has left teams facing a key decision between developing their current car and allocating a growing number of resources to next year’s model.

F1’s budget cap, and the aerodynamic research restrictions imposed on teams under the sport’s sliding-scale for development, are likely to be huge factors in how soon each competitor switches off the tap for F1 2025.

Analysis: Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari from Mercedes for F1 2025

👉 Lewis Hamilton now finally has a chance to escape the ghosts of Abu Dhabi 2021

👉 Four reasons why Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari makes so much sense

F1 has operated with a sliding scale for aerodynamic testing since the start of the 2021 season, with the order based on the position of each team in the Constructors’ standings.

It means the team in last place in the Constructors’ standings will enjoy considerably more aerodynamic research time – including wind tunnel runs and CFD work – than the title winners, with the aim to create closer competition between the sport’s 10 teams.

The sliding scale is reset twice during each calendar year – on January 1 to match the final order of the previous year’s Constructors’ standings and again on July 1 to reflect the state of play at the halfway stage of each season.

Having finished third in the 2024 Constructors’ standings, Ferrari have a maximum of 900 hours in the wind tunnel across the first half of F1 2025 – 60 more than reigning champions McLaren and 60 less than Red Bull, who slumped to third last year.

A report by Auto Racer has claimed that Ferrari technical director Loic Serra has ‘prepared a careful plan’ for the management of the team’s resources, having began the transition to the team’s 2026 car – codenamed Project 678 – last month.

It is said that Serra has already chosen a select group of engineers to work ‘exclusively’ on the development of Project 678 in the background, with the ‘priority’ still the F1 2025 car.

The SF-25 is poised to remain the team’s focus for at least the first four months of the season before the need to switch to the F1 2026 car becomes increasingly pressing.

Ferrari’s decision to introduce a number of new concepts – including a pullrod front suspension layout, long used by Red Bull and McLaren – have encouraged the team to stick with the SF-25 car for as long as possible.

The upcoming technical directive at the Spanish Grand Prix, which will see the FIA clamp down further on the use of so-called flexi wings, has also forced Ferrari to keep working on the 2025 car.

More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari

👉 Lewis Hamilton news

👉 Ferrari news

Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, recently confirmed that the SF-25 will be a “completely new” car compared to its predecessor, which fell just 14 points short of landing the Scuderia’s first World Championship of any kind since 2008.

He said: “The car will be completely new; I think we’ll have less than 1 per cent of the parts in common with the 2024 car.

“It’s a different project. If it will be competitive, we’ll find out in Bahrain [pre-season testing].

“Sometimes you don’t realise you’re taking risks until afterwards.”

Read next: ‘Darling of Maranello’ warned to ‘get on his bike’ against Lewis Hamilton