While the list of struggles for Ferrari in Formula 1 in 2025 is long, the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend summed up the majority of the struggles facing the team.
2025 looks to be one of the worst for the Italian marque, with just seven podium finishes to its name and its only victory coming in the Shanghai Sprint in March.
Ferrari has not only failed to capitalise on its strong finish to 2024, but has slumped to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, behind Mercedes and Red Bull.
The Prancing Horses’ failure in 2025 cannot wholly be attributed to one flaw, as the SF-25 seems to have multiple fundamental flaws that have marred its season.
While the main fault of the package seems to be its inability to be run lower to the ground to avoid the same plank wear penalty that soured the weekend for McLaren, the SF-25 seems to regularly find more problems than solutions.
However, the weekend in Nevada seemed to expose a lot of the problems that have plagued Ferrari so hard this season.
Be it struggles in the wet that saw a Ferrari driver knocked out legitimately in Q1 for the first time since the end of the 2009 season, or an inability to maintain brake and tyre temperatures, Las Vegas saw Ferrari wrack up another weekend of disappointment that it only has itself to blame.
Ferrari struggles in all conditions
Having looked to have the pace to fight for pole heading into qualifying, once the weather turned, Ferrari went backwards.
Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in 20th and last, while Charles Leclerc barely managed to make the top 10, starting the Grand Prix from ninth.
The Monegasque driver left a scathing review about the team’s pace in the wet, claiming the struggles have been present since he joined Ferrari back in 2019.
Both drivers struggled throughout qualifying to generate heat in the tyres, something that has marred their one-lap performance throughout the campaign.
Hamilton and Leclerc are among the best wet-weather drivers on the grid, so to see them both struggle so hard all season in wet conditions shows a fundamental problem within Ferrari, which sees it unsurprising that the team is winless in the wet since 2012.
Even when the track dried for the race, Ferrari was unable to relocate the pace it had shown in practice, with Leclerc crossing the line in sixth and missing out on an eventual podium by under two tenths of a second once the two McLarens were excluded post-race.
Hamilton managed to recover from the back to the points, but the Brit struggled not only once the switch to the Medium tyre was made, but also on the brakes for much of the race in the colder conditions.
Despite making up a lot of ground early on, Hamilton struggled to clear the Haas of Esteban Ocon and clearly lacked confidence on the brakes and locking up on multiple occasions, something else Ferrari has had its struggles with in 2025.
Operational errors are still rife
While both cars seemed to lack the ultimate pace once again, the pit wall did the team no favours in pushing for the podium.
Both Leclerc and Hamilton questioned the calls made by the pit wall on the Las Vegas Strip.
Leclerc, in particular, felt that he was left out to dry after being undercut by both Antonelli and Piastri, with no response from his strategy team.
Hamilton too felt he was pitted too early off the favoured Hard tyre, losing nearly five seconds to Hulkenberg ahead as the Sauber driver used the overcut to his advantage.
Continual operational errors have plagued not only the 2025 season, but have almost become a running joke regarding the Scuderia for a while.
The fact that many of the factors that saw Ferrari struggle once again in Las Vegas have been present for a long time seems to also be draining the confidence of both drivers heading into the crucial 2026 regulation changes.
Rumours are growing stronger that Leclerc is looking for a way out of Ferrari and is potentially close to making a move to Aston Martin for 2027.
Hamilton, too, seems to be more dejected than ever, seeing that the only positive left in 2025 is the season coming to an end sooner rather than later.
However, the seven-time World Champion didn’t exactly give a positive look to 2026 either, claiming he’s not looking forward to it.
2026 is possibly the most important season in recent history for Ferrari as internal and external pressure rises on the team to finally end its nearly 20-year title drought.
READ MORE – Why Ferrari has no issue with defeatist Lewis Hamilton remarks after F1 Las Vegas GP
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