There’s a recurring query among the many followers of the Prancing Horse: why did Ferrari fully overhaul the structure of the automobile after ending second within the 2024 System 1 Constructors’ Championship, simply 14 factors behind McLaren? Within the final yr of the bottom impact laws, the Italian facet determined to revamp its automobile, introducing 99% new parts in accordance with Ferrari workforce principal Frederic Vasseur himself.
This difficulty has been extensively debated not solely on social media but additionally amongst varied insiders: why wasn’t the SF-24 improvement continued, particularly contemplating it completed final season near the McLaren vehicles, whereas the SF-25, after three races, has plummeted to fourth place among the many prime groups, with a drastic drop in competitiveness?
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have already amassed a 76-point deficit to McLaren within the Constructors’ Championship forward of the Bahrain Grand Prix, having scored solely 35 factors to date in comparison with 111 from the Woking workforce, whereas Mercedes has earned 75 factors and Crimson Bull, which runs just one automobile within the prime 10, Max Verstappen‘s, has amassed 61 factors. There couldn’t have been a worse begin for the Maranello workforce, however the Italian facet by no means thought of deploying a “carry over” automobile.
The arrival of Lewis Hamilton was an extra push to goal for a leap in high quality, with the idea that Ferrari may goal for 2 World Championships earlier than the drastic regulatory modifications anticipated for the 2026 System 1 season.
So why was the 2025 automobile redesigned? The reply may be very easy: the SF-24 had only a few potentialities for aerodynamic enchancment and its improvement would have been restricted in comparison with the evolution that rivals had deliberate.
The selection, subsequently, was proper, and within the 2025 price range cap, a major quantity was allotted to approve a brand new chassis with the cockpit moved additional again and a shorter, sleeker gearbox.
The thought was to shift the burden distribution barely towards the rear to be able to provide extra freedom to the aerodynamic workforce led by Diego Tondi. The SF-25 single-seater was designed to be beneath the burden restrict of 800 kilograms to have the choice of reaching the precise stability by introducing ballast within the entrance wing, permitting the 0.5% weight distribution tolerance permitted by the laws to be adjusted as desired.
Moreover, the aerodynamic division had requested the chassis chief, Fabio Montecchi, to change from the standard push rod entrance suspension to a pull rod system, already in use by Crimson Bull and McLaren. The wants, subsequently, weren’t mechanical however stemmed from the idea that wind tunnel testing may yield extra downforce for efficiency.
And evidently, the info rising from the winter simulations needed to be constructive in comparison with the SF-24, fueling the championship hopes that had been repeatedly raised by the drivers and workforce leaders.
In China and Japan, we noticed F1 vehicles that had been about 1.5 seconds sooner than the earlier yr, which is a big enchancment contemplating that, often, by the top of a regulatory cycle, only some tenths are discovered as a result of groups are already scraping the barrel with mature vehicles. Nonetheless, the home of playing cards started to break down through the preseason testing session on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit, when it turned clear that McLaren was extra aggressive and Ferrari was struggling.
Initially, consideration was centered on the pull rod suspension: with the brand new setup, there may need been a necessity to regulate the setup, as very completely different stiffness changes are required. However the “difficulty” with the SF-25 automobile was not discovered there. Observers then shifted their focus to the rear finish, pointing to the transmission: the miniaturized carbon gearbox may undergo damaging torsions, stopping the rear from being sufficiently stiff to make the automobile responsive in path modifications, leading to annoying understeer that was closely criticized by the drivers.
The Ferrari SF-25 automobile was designed to be centered on the entrance, as each Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton desire, with nice nook entry, however in actuality, it has considerably improved in high-speed sections, because of good aerodynamic effectivity, whereas it has misplaced its traction and dealing with in low-speed corners.
So, what’s lacking for Ferrari? One may say the aerodynamic downforce that presses the automobile onto the monitor floor and generates the vitality to switch to the tires. With out sufficient downforce, the workforce is pressured to make use of minimal floor clearance, figuring out that the nearer the automobile is to the bottom, the extra the ground can create downforce. However the put on on the plank must be taken under consideration: the FIA permits consumption of 1 of the ten mm thickness of the plank, after which disqualifications are triggered, as occurred to Lewis Hamilton in China.
Past the embarrassment {that a} prestigious workforce like Ferrari shouldn’t enable, it’s evident that discovering fast countermeasures just isn’t straightforward. The primary improve bundle for the SF-25 was scheduled for Imola, on the debut of the European season, however after the Sakhir exams, it’s attainable that the event plans had been introduced ahead primarily based on what emerged from the wind tunnel work.
So, we will count on modifications to the ground in Bahrain, together with different particulars, but it surely’s onerous to suppose the hole to the MCL39 and the improved Crimson Bull will be closed in a single go, as a result of the 3-4 tenths hole just isn’t straightforward to cut back, as others gained’t stand nonetheless both.
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