Enrico Gualtieri: "We asked Lewis Hamilton what he thinks of our engine. His feedback is invaluable"

The SF-25 captured everyone’s attention on the evening of February 18—despite the ongoing F1 75 Live event at London’s O2 Arena, where all the teams unveiled their 2025 liveries—and again yesterday when it hit the track for the first time, with Charles Leclerc taking the wheel before Lewis Hamilton had his turn at Fiorano.

According to technical director Loic Serra, the new Ferrari is an evolution of the already solid SF-24. However, as we know, engine development has been frozen since 2022.

Enrico Gualtieri, head of Ferrari’s power unit division, explained how his team has worked to make small yet meaningful improvements in performance and reliability while also assisting the aerodynamics department in enhancing efficiency.

“Engine development has been frozen since 2022, meaning we cannot change any hardware or introduce new components within the power unit,” Enrico Gualtieri told in a recent interview for the Italian website Automoto. “That doesn’t mean we can’t optimize what we already have. We’ve worked hard and finally managed to refine our strategies to better integrate our PU into our operations, particularly across all aspects of a race weekend, to maximize every performance advantage. Of course, nothing groundbreaking—especially compared to what we could achieve when development time was unlimited. We have simply regained the performance potential we lost last year, which will make the grid even more competitive.”

“For the first time, we didn’t need to rely on auxiliary components but instead focused on integrating the power unit seamlessly with the new car. In reality, we had already achieved a proper fit by the end of 2022. Our design choices were primarily aimed at giving the aerodynamics team complete freedom by occupying as little space as possible within the car’s architecture. We’ve been working with this power unit for ten years now—an incredibly long journey. It began in 2014, though things didn’t go as we had hoped. Still, it was an invaluable learning experience that provided new opportunities. The most important thing is that we’ve gained experience, and in the end, we made significant progress.”

This year, Ferrari faces a dual challenge: developing the SF-25 with the hope of fighting for the title until the final race while also working on the 2026 car, which will be built under the new technical regulations set to take effect on January 1 next year.

“We are fully focused on launching the 2025 car and managing the entire season. That said, 2026 is getting closer, so this year will be critical and extremely demanding in that regard. The best way to be prepared is to work on it while keeping our current season’s objectives in sight. In the coming weeks, we will dive deeper into developing the power unit for the next regulatory cycle.”

Naturally, Enrico Gualtieri also addressed the arrival of Lewis Hamilton and his initial impressions of the Ferrari engine. While he did not disclose any specific details, he confirmed that Ferrari sought feedback from the seven-time world champion, comparing his experience with the Ferrari V6 to the Mercedes power units he used for years.

“We had discussions with him, of course. We are more interested in his overall feel for our engine rather than making direct comparisons. But yes, his input has been incredibly valuable. Drivers are, in a way, our most advanced sensor in the car—sometimes even more precise than physical sensors. His feedback has been fascinating and extremely helpful in understanding how he perceives our engine. He has been very engaged in the discussions, and his involvement in adapting to the Ferrari power unit has been greatly beneficial.”