An analysis of Ferrari’s 2025 season can already project us toward 2026: clues and promises for a Formula 1 campaign once again lived as protagonists.
A season without fireworks: Ferrari’s 2025 analysis that points us toward a hope-filled 2026. Winning is the only thing that matters after a year with few, very few smiles and many, far too many doubts. The SF-25 is already water under the bridge: in Maranello, attention has long been focused on the next World Championship. The premises are positive, as the team led by Frédéric Vasseur has the potential to return to success.
Four months ago we wrote, with guilty naivety, that it would have been “unrealistic” to think Mercedes and Red Bull could overtake Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. The table seemed set for a hard-earned second place, which would have restored morale to an otherwise disappointed team. Instead, everything changed in just a few weeks: the SF-25 disappeared, Max Verstappen was reborn, and the Brackley-based team rediscovered Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Prancing Horse finished fourth among the teams, behind all its direct rivals. Charles Leclerc ended the Drivers’ Championship in fifth place, while Lewis Hamilton beat by just six points the very young Bolognese driver who took his seat at the Silver Arrows. The year that was meant to bring red back to the top step of the podium instead turned into a long and frustrating disappointment.
The highlights of Ferrari’s 2025 season
Ferrari experienced a season with few highs and many lows. The first podium arrived only in Saudi Arabia thanks to Charles Leclerc, who would go on to secure all seven of Maranello’s Top 3 finishes, while victory always eluded the men of the Prancing Horse. Monte Carlo and Mexico City were the SF-25’s two best performances, with two second places once again taken by the Monegasque driver.
Much further away from car #16 was Lewis Hamilton, who never reached the podium except in the Sprint Races in China, which the British driver won, and in Miami, where he finished third. The seven-time world champion collected four fourth-place finishes at Imola, Austria, Great Britain and Austin, but also suffered two race retirements, the same as his teammate and in the same races, in the Netherlands and Brazil, not to mention the double disqualification at the Shanghai Grand Prix.
Difficulties and strengths of a Ferrari born the wrong way
In Formula 1, without a competitive car, winning is nothing more than a mirage. It sounds obvious, but there is no other way to justify the extremely modest return of the SF-25. From the winter tests it was clear that McLaren would be the car to beat, with Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari all very close to one another. The Maranello single-seater struggled to assert itself throughout the year, with the second half of the season heavily influenced by choices made earlier on.
Ferrari at least taught its fans concepts such as “ride height” and “operating window.” Two recurring themes that accompanied the SF-25 from Australia onward and that explain, at least in part, the team’s difficulties. When the car worked, as in China during the Sprint Race and in the first half of the Hungarian Grand Prix, it looked almost unbeatable. The problem was that this operating window was always far too narrow.
If it is true that Frédéric Vasseur’s team suspended all development as early as the summer, the subsequent performance decline is simply a mathematical consequence. Brackley and Milton Keynes continued to push, while Maranello understood that the real objective cannot be second place. Eyes firmly on 2026, therefore, aiming for a leading role.
Ferrari standings and the comparison between Hamilton and Leclerc
As mentioned, the final standings can only disappoint both the men from Maranello and the fans. Ferrari finished fourth in the constructors’ championship with 398 points, behind Red Bull on 451, Mercedes on 469 and McLaren with a dominant 833. In the drivers’ standings, Charles Leclerc ended the season in fifth place with 242 points, while Lewis Hamilton had to settle for sixth with 156 points.
In the head-to-head between teammates, Charles Leclerc was the clear winner of the season. The Monegasque beat Lewis Hamilton in races, 18 to 3, in qualifying, 19 to 5, in fastest laps, 13 to 10, and also in Sprint Races, 4 to 2. It would be wrong, however, to speak of a complete failure for the British driver: a new team, a new car and a machine that was difficult to interpret are all valid reasons to postpone final judgment until 2026.
Ferrari’s positive expectations for 2026
If there is one positive aspect to take from this season, it is once again the team’s resilience. Pressure rose to extreme levels from the very first filming day, and facing a failed campaign while carrying the enormous expectations of the fans is anything but easy. The management placed its trust in Frédéric Vasseur, a smart move that provides stability to an environment that desperately needed it.
Regardless of the rumors surrounding Mercedes and Red Bull engines, 2026 will be the year of truth. If Ferrari does not win, it is legitimate to expect that everything, or almost everything, will change. Yet all the elements needed to achieve glory are there: two drivers with an immense desire for redemption, a motivated engineering team, and the ability, already partly shown in 2025, to make the most of every opportunity when it truly matters.
Source: f1ingenerale
Leave a Reply