Ferrari believes in it. The world championship goal is not set just for the 2026 Formula 1 season when the new regulations will be introduced. In Maranello, there is a desire to anticipate the times. Charles Leclerc’s victory on the streets of Monte Carlo in Monaco helps to galvanize a team that has found a shared vision around its team principal Frederic Vasseur. The Frenchman has built a very cohesive staff in which everyone pulls in the same direction, expressing a potential that has been hidden for too long in the depths of the Ferrari Racing Division.
During the Imola weekend, the French manager explained that the Scuderia’s programs are proceeding on three parallel tracks but with different timelines. It is difficult from the outside to say what is a priority. The feeling is that there is a lot on the plate but with clearly differentiated objectives.
Frederic Vasseur mentioned that it is quite difficult to find a precise percentage. Part of the Maranello team is working on the next updates that will be seen on the SF-24 single-seater during the current Formula 1 season, while another part is already focused on next year’s car, as the Ferrari technicians have already started working on the 2025 car. Additionally, there is work that has been underway for some time on the 2026 power unit, while for the chassis and aerodynamic side they can only hypothesize some concepts as the regulations are not yet fully in place.
The next SF-24 aerodynamic package is scheduled for the Silverstone weekend in the British Grand Prix, after it was originally planned for the Hungarian round, but Ferrari seems determined to bring it forward. In the meantime, we will see two more rear wings appear after the high-load one that debuted last weekend in Monaco. A lower downforce version will be seen in the upcoming round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, while the intermediate version will appear in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
These are the immediate plans, but Italian aerodynamicist Enrico Cardile, the Ferrari Technical Director of Chassis & Aerodynamics, has assigned a team of engineers with the task of focusing on the development direction for the SF-25. At the beginning of the year, it was said that next year’s red car would be just an evolution of the SF-24, in order to divert most of the budget to the 2026 Formula 1 car which will start being studied from January 1st with the contribution of Loic Serra, the former Mercedes engineer, who will be operational in Maranello from October, but the emerging truth is another: Frederic Vasseur has given the green light to thoroughly redesign next year’s chassis.
The Maranello technicians are convinced they fully understand how to make a ground effect car work and are sure that it is necessary to revise the project in order to extract the maximum potential from these regulations, despite just one year left before the introduction of the new Formula 1 rules.
The first major news is that Ferrari, after years of stability, could switch to front pull-rod suspension, starting a work cycle on this aspect that could also be preparatory for 2026. Both the Red Bull RB20 and McLaren MCL38 already adopt this solution. This is not a new exercise for Maranello since the SF15-T, the car for the 2015 Formula 1 campaign, used the long pull-rod. The need is not so much mechanical as aerodynamic, useful for better managing the flows destined for the Venturi channels.
But reversing the design of the front suspension requires redoing the chassis since new attachments to the body are needed, with the internal mechanisms moved towards the floor of the chassis, also gaining an advantage in lowering the weights on the front end.
According to rumors from the Italian media, the driver’s position would also be adjusted to benefit from a rebalanced weight distribution. This is the clearest sign that Ferrari has launched an ambitious plan that could lead it to fight for the Constructors’ title in 2024 and perhaps aim even higher in 2025 when Lewis Hamilton will join Charles Leclerc.
The Englishman wants to seize the chance to become the first driver to win eight Formula 1 titles and knows that his time in F1 will soon come to an end, so he will need to achieve the maximum result as quickly as possible. In short, Ferrari seems ready to bare its claws, also while waiting for Adrian Newey to decide whether he intends to accept the offer from the Maranello team or not.
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