Written by Spyros Pettas
It is widely known that Scuderia Ferrari F1 under the solid command of the “sweet shark” Frederic Vasser has left no stone unturned in its goal to make its singleseater faster than 2024.
Ferrari’s car has been 99% changed and its adversaries have given it the “standout” characteristic.
What makes the Ferrari Sf25 of 2025 so different it’s its sidepods. They are very narrow and small and boast a unique design.
One of the main differences of the Sf25 in respect to its recent predecessors is the adoption of the pull rod scheme at the front suspension, a layout that offers aerodynamic gains, as the spaces for the front air flows get bigger with it. There are also gains as far as the center of gravity is concerned, because with pull rod the mechanisms are positioned lower. The goal is to use and warm up better the front tyres.
In the rear suspension Ferrari is the only team, apart Haas, that adopts the multi link – (pull rod) layout, a layout firstly introduced into Formula 1 by the Jaguar F1 team, back in 2001. Ferrari was the first team to introduce such a layout, after many - many years, in 2024 with the successful Sf24 that won in Melbourne, Monaco, Monza, Austin and Mexico City and finished second in the Constructors’ classification.
With the Sf25, Ferrari’s technical minds tried to swift the weight and aero balance to the rear, in an attempt to improve high speed corner stability.
The first issues
The debut in Fiorano, for both Leclerc and Hamilton, was ideal. Both drivers gave good remarks on the brand new car, as, in the hands of Leclerc, it was nearly a second faster than Sf24 of the previous year. It was understood that Leclerc gave the hunt for the absolute time, while Hamilton concentrated on long runs, thus the 8 tenths gap between the two men, in favour of the Monegasque.
In the F1 joint tests in Bahrain, under unusual weather circumstances, the Sf25 suffered from oversteer that turned into understeer in the turn entry. At the end of the 3day test, Leclerc was unhappy with the balance of the car, while Hamilton seemed happier in this regard.
There is a setup problem with the new front suspension, with the front end unwilling to rapidly follow the commands of two oversteering thoroughbreds like Leclerc and the seven times World Champion, Hamilton. A setup problem that is only a matter of time to solve, thanks also to the input of the vehicle dynamics magician, the new technical director of Ferrari F1 since October 2024, the French Loic Serra.
The positive notes are that the new car responds well to setup changes, and also that tyre degradation was lower than in 2024. It was important that Leclerc used worn tyres in his qualifying runs.
Hamilton also gave raving reviews on the Ferrari Power Unit, that erogates, we assume, something in the proximity of 1150 bhp.
But McLaren seems to be in front at the time being...