Before the event, a Ferrari-McLaren challenge was expected, and this was confirmed by the track’s response on the first day of free practice in Melbourne. For Ferrari, after the tests in Bahrain, where there were still some uncertainties and a deeper understanding of the car’s mechanical setup was needed, one of the key topics was to arrive in Melbourne with a clearer idea of what the ideal setup might be.
Given the change in philosophy at the front, it was predictable that during the tests Ferrari would focus more on understanding the car rather than fine-tuning it. It’s important to note that, unlike previous seasons, Bahrain is no longer the first race of the World Championship in 2025. Therefore, it made sense this year to dedicate more time to understanding the car rather than focusing on the weekend preparation phase.
This work allowed Ferrari to collect a lot of data, which, as usual, was then incorporated into the simulator—not only to gain a clearer idea of the car’s potential and setup window but also to start fine-tuning the setup for Australia.
In fact, one of the first points Charles Leclerc emphasized at the end of the first free practice day in Melbourne was the preparation work done at the factory in recent days because the Monegasque driver immediately felt comfortable in the car.
“Honestly, we did a good job of preparation because the feeling with the car was good. There are obviously things we need to improve, as always, and I’m not yet very satisfied with the balance, but we’re in a better position than we were in Bahrain,” explained Charles Leclerc at the end of the Australian free practice.
Clearly, since this is just the first race with a new car, there is still room for improvement and performance to be unlocked. Looking at the data, the SF-25 highlights some issues seen last year, particularly in high-speed corners like the direction change between turns 9 and 10. However, on the first day, the gap didn’t seem as wide as the time gained in the slower sections.
This is one of the reasons why Charles Leclerc topped the first day of free practice, posting a time of 1:16.439, with just over a tenth of a second advantage over the two Woking cars of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
It is precisely in the final sector, as well as in turn 3, where Ferrari was able to gain the advantage over McLaren in terms of lap time, although the intermediate times in the final sector didn’t show an overwhelming superiority.
This is due to the fact that the time gained in the slower sections is “offset” by the time lost in the fast sequence and on the straights, where the MCL39 showed higher top speeds, partly due to its aerodynamic configuration and, likely, the fact that the Maranello team has yet to show its cards in terms of engine mappings, as was the case last year.
For Charles Leclerc, there’s still room for improvement, particularly in long runs, where McLaren seemed slightly more consistent. However, this is also a discussion that extends to other teams, as it’s only the first race of the season, and as the technical cycle reaches its limits, the window for finding performance becomes narrower.
“There’s still something to find in terms of performance, but that applies to everyone in the paddock. These cars are quite new for everyone, so you need to push them to understand exactly where the limit is, but it was a solid first day. Now we need to wait and see how tomorrow goes, when we will push a bit more,” Charles Leclerc added at the end of the second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
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