F1 | The evolution of the SF25 during the season: Ferrari’s 2025 between failed and abandoned upgrades
The 2025 Formula 1 season has finally come to an end for Scuderia Ferrari, closing a year that the team will want to forget as quickly as possible. The SF25 was officially used for the final time during the post-season tests in Abu Dhabi, bringing a problematic chapter to its conclusion. This season review retraces the technical evolution of the Ferrari SF25, from discarded aerodynamic updates to a suspension system that never performed as expected.
The campaign was anything but simple. After a strong 2024, expectations were high, yet the last ground-effect car from Maranello turned into a huge headache for the technical department. Not even the extensive work of the engineers managed to revive the performance of a car that ultimately finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. The weaknesses of the SF25 became clear from the very first race in Melbourne, when the team realised that the car – and particularly its suspension – could not withstand the required vertical loads. As a result, Ferrari was forced to raise and stiffen the setup, sacrificing a significant portion of performance.
Despite the difficulties, the SF25 did receive a number of upgrades before being definitively set aside so development could shift toward the 2026 car. Here is the full timeline.
Bahrain: the first scheduled upgrades
The engineers struggled to find a consistent and effective setup, and by the time the championship reached China, the team even faced a disqualification due to excessive plank wear. The push to solve these issues had already started in Melbourne, with the initial hope that aerodynamic updates could at least contain the situation.
In Bahrain, Ferrari introduced a major technical package for the SF25. It was not designed as a corrective measure but as a scheduled upgrade meant to deliver better aerodynamic efficiency. Among the components introduced were new floor fences, a redesigned Venturi inlet, a revised floor expansion, and an updated diffuser. It was a substantial package, though one that required time to fully understand and integrate.
However, Ferrari’s problems continued. The season unfolded with alternating highs and lows, as the car’s potential remained hidden behind a very narrow operating window. In Maranello, engineers understood that the real limitation was the suspension system, which needed a deep and time-consuming redesign. Because such work requires months, the team chose to continue pursuing aerodynamic development in parallel.
Spain and Austria: a new directive and a revised floor
The Spanish Grand Prix was a pivotal moment for every team, following the FIA’s new directive that restricted the flexing of wing profiles. Ferrari adapted by introducing a new front wing identical in design but built with a different composite layup. An update also arrived at the endplate, now reshaped and featuring a more pronounced outwash effect.
Austria marked another development step with the introduction of the first corrective changes aimed at addressing the SF25’s weaknesses. Ferrari brought a reprofiled diffuser in the rear section as well as a new floor. These updates were intended to improve airflow to the rear, boosting stability and downforce. Nevertheless, the car showed little improvement. The limitations of the project became increasingly evident, reinforcing the urgent need for a redesigned suspension.
Belgium: the long-awaited suspension arrives amid internal tensions
Spa-Francorchamps was the moment many had been waiting for: the introduction of the new suspension system that, in theory, should have revived the fortunes of the SF25. Yet once again, expectations were not met. The chronic issues of the car remained unchanged, and performance even began to regress, especially as rivals continued to progress with their own upgrades.
In the weeks that followed, it emerged that the team had been preparing additional aerodynamic developments, which many engineers internally considered more effective than the suspension alone. However, the final decision was to focus all remaining resources on the rear suspension, abandoning the aerodynamic updates altogether – a choice that appears to have been costly not only in performance but also financially.
Controversy soon followed, and fans began questioning why certain components were never updated or why the team did not push the development further. Among the recurring topics was the well-known brake issue. This problem did not stem from a manufacturing flaw but from the complex management of tyre temperatures. One of the few strengths of the SF25 was its resistance to overheating the tyre compounds, but this also made it difficult to bring the tyres up to the optimal temperature window. To compensate, Ferrari consistently raced with smaller brake ducts to increase heat transfer to the tyres – a choice that helped tyre warm-up but had negative effects on the braking system.
From Belgium onwards, Ferrari introduced no further significant updates. By the time the summer break approached, the team had clearly shifted its focus to the 2026 project. Attempts were made to revive the SF25, but nothing worked, and internal misunderstandings in Maranello did not help the situation. With the team openly admitting that the 2025 car had effectively been abandoned early, hopes now rest on a competitive comeback in 2026.
The effort to rescue the SF-25 was real, but nothing ultimately worked. Internal misalignments, wrong technical calls and a concept that was flawed from the drawing board combined to produce a season Maranello would rather forget. The hope now rests entirely on the 2026 challenger being the competitive reset Ferrari so desperately needs.
Source: f1ingenerale
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