The Ferrari SF-25 is not the car Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had hoped to drive in 2025. Instead, the Italian side has had to deal with a car that is far behind its rivals, and for this reason, they are ready to introduce new updates in the hope of resolving the issues that have emerged so far.
The Maranello team is expected to install a new rear suspension during the Barcelona weekend. The Spanish Grand Prix will be a very important weekend for the continuation of the season, as the new FIA technical directive will debut there. The Federation wants to definitively close the issue related to flexible wings, and from Montmeló onwards, it will be much stricter in terms of inspections. For this reason, many believe that in three weeks a brand-new championship could begin, with track performance values potentially turned upside down.
But will that be enough for Ferrari?
According to engineer Luigi Mazzola, however, the new suspension may not be enough to solve the SF-25’s problems. “Mechanical grip is a kind of chimera that by itself has very little importance. In Formula 1, what really matters is aerodynamics, as well as the tyres and power units. Everyone thinks aerodynamics are important in fast corners, but in reality, they are felt even more in slow corners. Alain Prost pointed this out to me, and from that moment I changed the way I look at things.” – the Italian engineer explained.
“If you’re slow in the slow sections, it means you’re lacking downforce. With the suspension I can improve my system, but it only affects internal forces. It doesn’t give you external grip, which is what actually makes you faster. Maybe it will improve the balance, but if you’re lacking downforce, you’ll keep struggling. And the opposite is also true. In the end, what you need is efficiency. Ferrari isn’t in bad shape in terms of drag, since it’s fast on the straights. What they’re lacking is downforce — that’s why they’re suffering,” said Luigi Mazzola on the newsf1 podcast.
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