Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has vowed that the initial struggles the team has endured in the 2025 Formula 1 campaign have had “nothing to do” with the car concept that it has chosen.
The Italian marque’s recent podium drought continued in the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite a more promising showing that culminated in both drivers ending up inside the top five.
Charles Leclerc had occupied third until he succumbed the place to Lando Norris with five laps to go as Ferrari once again had no response to McLaren’s pace-setting speed.
The Monegasque detailed post-race that Ferrari’s new updates, coupled with his set-up breakthrough in Japan, had remedied the previous inconsistencies with the SF-25.
But with Ferrari still lagging behind its rivals, Leclerc highlighted that the team is now dependent on adding more performance to become embroiled in the battle at the front.
“I think we just need more overall downforce, more grip,” Leclerc pinpointed to media including Motorsport Week.
“I think the balance we are extracting the maximum out of the car at the moment, but there’s just nothing more. I need more grip to go faster around the corner.”
Ferrari struggles not down to radical changes
Ferrari has shown sporadic promise over the opening rounds, but the SF-25’s operating window has proceeded to be too narrow to access that peak potential consistently.
However, Vasseur has denied that Ferrari’s complications can be attributed to the call to commit to radical changes from the team’s title-contending SF-24 predecessor.
Asked whether Ferrari’s margin to McLaren is all rooted in pure downforce, Vasseur answered to select media including Motorsport Week: “I think it has nothing to do with the concept. Pure downforce, no.
“I think that first the picture is that from session to session it’s a bit different.
“You can have some stints when we are fighting with the McLaren, that Sprint race in China or the second stint in Bahrain today.
“But overall if you have a look on 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 on the situation, they are also much better when the conditions are a bit more extreme, when it’s way more tyre management than anything else.”
READ MORE – Ferrari vows to adapt 2025 F1 car to Lewis Hamilton
