Ferrari appears to be seeking further development in its SF-25 challenger despite its Formula 1 championship hopes already dwindling.
After seven rounds, the Scuderia has failed to live up to its pre-season status as the second-fastest team behind McLaren, with Charles Leclerc’s third place in Jeddah its only Grand Prix podium of the campaign.
With the European leg of the season already underway, a lot of teams will already be shifting their focus onto their 2026 cars, particularly with the new regulations providing an additional challenge.
However, it seems that the Italian giants are looking to make tweaks to the areas on its current car which has so far seen the prancing horse canter as opposed to gallop.
A key aspect of the SF-25’s underwhelming performance has been its inability to set its ride height to a desired level, a notable example being in China, when Lewis Hamilton’s car was disqualified for an overworn plank.
This issue has been in tandem with an underlying one, which stems from the lack of rigidity in its rear suspension.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has confirmed this, but also stated that there are other areas on the car that are being currently worked on.
“We are working on all the areas of the car, mainly on mechanical, because it’s something that we can carry over to try to get a better performance over the season.
“It’s not a secret for us and it’s not a secret for the others that at one stage you will have to switch to 2026. But we are working not only on suspension. We are trying to understand where we can add performance.”
Enforced flexi-wing rules the only aero change for Ferrari
Vasseur said that apart from the new front wing, as per the new flexi-wing rules from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards, development of any aerodynamic areas of the car is pointless.
“We have a new front wing regulation in Spain, in that we are all obliged to do a new front wing for Spain,” he said.
“But all the other [aero] components of the car, if you develop a new floor, or a new rear wing, you won’t carry it over for 2026.
“The regulations are completely different. The rear wings are different. The flow regulation is completely different.
“It means that [if you bring an aero update] you will do it only for the last eight races. It’s a bit different on the mechanical side, because if you work on mechanical components…you can carry it over for next year.”
The areas of development in which Ferrari are seeking to make improvements are, as Vasseur points out, for the greater good of making good of what is left of this year’s championship.
“It would be a mistake. I think that if you want to improve, you need to stay competitors and you need to stay into the fight.
“It’s only when you are fighting for something that you pay attention to details, that you are in this kind of mindset of competition.
“I can’t imagine that a group of 1000 people can keep the same motivation if you give up something, because you don’t have the pressure of the result for next week or you don’t have the pressure of the result for the next session.”
He added: “I want to keep everybody under pressure today. Now, ’26 it’s another story for that group of people working on ’26, but for the guys who are racing, we need to keep this up.”
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