Ferrari undermines itself while claiming strategic success. Ferrari faces another dismal race weekend.

Ferrari ends a weekend to forget in the worst possible way. The exchange between Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and their respective engineers is just background noise to a non-existent performance. In both race stints, the Maranello car lost about a second per lap to the two McLarens. The Italian side was limited by a lack of rotation and poor management of rear overheating.

The SF-25 car is far behind its direct rivals and is battling with Williams to defend its title as the fourth-best team. McLaren dominated the race, its performance only questioned by a difficult start and Max Verstappen’s “arrogance” in defending the lead. The Woking team is truly strong, now charging ahead toward a double world title without brakes.

In the first race stint, Ferrari didn’t come alive, with Charles Leclerc struggling to maintain a pace even close to the Williams cars. The Monegasque driver suffered a huge gap, losing about 1.2 seconds per lap to Piastri. Charles kept complaining about a lack of rotation. His tire degradation, similar to that of his teammate, had a less favorable slope compared to rivals, highlighting the team’s more complicated tire management.

Lewis Hamilton also had front-end issues, only managing to regain ground on Ocon in the second half of the stint. The Brit also struggled to overtake, given the identical power unit and Haas’s good top speed. At the front, McLaren set an unbeatable pace, with Piastri — helped by the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris — running three-tenths faster than his teammate.

Kimi Antonelli also performed well, despite a tough race start due to imperfect tire preparation. Kimi didn’t have Verstappen’s pace from the first corners, becoming easy prey for the MCL39s. He ended the first stint lapping a second slower than Russell but was able to make up ground on Max at the end of the stint thanks to good tire management.

In the second part of the race, Ferrari made noise only via radio. Hamilton, with a tire advantage, asked for Charles Leclerc’s position for three laps, but lost the benefit of the Mediums due to dirty air. Lewis Hamilton ended his stint with similar lap times to his teammate, but with the tires no longer in good condition, he couldn’t catch Antonelli to then give the place back to the former Alfa Romeo driver.

In short, instead of using track position to their advantage, the Ferrari duo hindered each other, blocking one another and finishing the race in seventh and eighth place. Piastri and Norris delivered a dominant hour of racing, lapping half a second quicker than their direct rivals. Piastri benefitted from the advantage built during the first stint thanks to the Verstappen-Norris battle and held off his teammate’s comeback.

The three Mercedes-powered cars also showed good pace, finishing in the top five: Antonelli, Russell, and Albon. Antonelli on Hards and Russell on Mediums managed to keep rivals behind. In particular, Russell’s tire degradation was minimal, finishing the second stint with a similar pace while making excellent use of the yellow-banded Pirellis.

For Ferrari, Imola will be a critically important round. So will Spain. The split updates must revive the SF-25. These upgrades — aimed at improving rear downforce from the floor, ride height management, and tire handling — might be the last of the season, as the Maranello team could choose to shift the remaining budget entirely toward development of the 2026 car.