Ferrari had an absolutely dreadful showing in F1 at Melbourne. Nothing else needs to be said, because fooling the fans is not an option. A weekend that, in the collective imagination, could not exist, yet, as we saw with our own eyes, it became a reality. So many proclamations and celebrations for nothing, as the cold shower at Albert Park brought all Ferrari supporters back down to earth. For this reason, the team is making adjustments to unlock the unexpressed potential of the SF-25.
The traction problems
The Prancing Horse must react. The sluggish pace shown in Australia cannot be real. Several issues slowed Ferrari down. We have discussed it last week, arguing that among the SF-25’s troubles, there is no fundamental issue preventing it from running at a good ride height. Reflecting on the car’s performance from Saturday morning onward, one of its major shortcomings became evident on the mechanical side.
The SF-25 struggled to generate good traction, and in general, in the more technical sections of the Australian F1 track, it had significant difficulty in putting down the power of the 066/15 power unit. This aspect is confirmed by the graph of longitudinal forces between FP2 and qualifying, where the much higher density of white dots indicates greater traction in the second free practice session compared to Q3.
Work on mechanical developments
This is why the team is working hard—let’s be clear (even the key figures themselves admitted it)—the historic Maranello team believed it would be further ahead in terms of overall car performance. In Australia, however, according to Ferrari, the gap to the front was far too large, especially compared to McLaren.
According to information gathered and reported by various news media outlets, the Maranello team is working extensively on the mechanical side. Undoubtedly, the combination of the double pull-rod suspension at both the front and rear is not delivering the expected results. As always in Formula 1, the interaction between the car’s components is crucial, and at least at this moment, beyond the Melbourne issues, the connection between the two axles of the Italian car is not meeting the necessary parameters.
The provisional suspension setup
In the first third of the season, the SF-25 will begin receiving its first updates. According to what has been learned, the vehicle dynamics department is making a maximum effort, as some mechanical refinements will inevitably be needed. Within this discussion, we have noticed an interesting detail. During an F1 Grand Prix, pre-mapped settings are used that, among other factors, help manage the car’s imperfect rotation, whether in excess or deficiency.
In Ferrari’s case, we are referring to understeer, which then turned into oversteer on corner exits. During the Australian weekend, as avid followers of onboard footage, we noticed excessive differential adjustments, both at corner entry and mid-corner, clearly to correct an imperfect aerodynamic platform behavior. Adjusting this value multiple times is fairly common, especially on damp asphalt, but at Albert Park, the limit was undoubtedly exceeded.
They tried almost everything. We can also mention the continuous tweaks to the wings and brake-related adjustments. We know that the ride height changes mainly affected the rear, which was one of the key factors in reducing the car’s traction. Returning to the suspension topic, for the Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari has devised a sort of provisional setup aimed at optimizing performance with more effective ride heights.
In general, in F1, a softer rear end helps grip at low speeds. However, a stiffer suspension setup ensures a more stable aerodynamic platform, just as raising the rear too much reduces traction. Once again, we see that compromise is essential. The work done in the simulator has created a baseline setup to balance various goals, optimize the suspension correlation, and use a satisfactory ride height. In less than eight hours, the first feedback on this approach will be gathered.
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