Ferrari–Williams upgrade comparison reveals new doubts for 2025 F1. A detailed comparison of Ferrari and Williams upgrades in the 2025 Formula 1 season.

F1 | Ferrari upgrade puzzle: The comparison with Williams raises new questions

Ferrari and Williams have taken two very different paths during the 2025 Formula 1 season, and the comparison between the two teams’ development approaches is raising new doubts. Even with one race still to go, Ferrari will not be able to reclaim second place in the Constructors’ Championship. The Maranello team currently sits behind McLaren – already confirmed as world champions – as well as Mercedes and Red Bull. Williams, meanwhile, has been one of the revelations of the year, delivering one of its strongest seasons in recent history with fifth place in the standings and two podiums for Carlos Sainz Jr.

During the latest episode of the podcast Terruzzi Racconta, Stefano Nicoli highlighted several interesting insights regarding the updates introduced by both Williams and Ferrari throughout the season.

Ferrari vs Williams

Following recent reports suggesting that Ferrari stopped updating the SF-25 as early as April 2025, Stefano Nicoli went through all FIA documents published before each Grand Prix. These documents list every visible update introduced by the teams for each race weekend. Stefano Nicoli explained: “Before every GP the FIA publishes a document where all the visible updates brought by the teams are listed. Some things may have been added beneath the surface on the cars, but it’s still a good overview to understand who brought updates.”

Based on Stefano Nicoli’s findings, Williams appears to have stopped bringing updates from the Belgian Grand Prix onward – the same weekend Ferrari introduced its new suspension. He continued: “Let’s assume that from Belgium neither of the two teams brought further updates. The difference in performance on a circuit that really tests the cars from an aerodynamic and mechanical standpoint was enormous.”

Stefano Nicoli then added a key point: “So even this whole topic of updates, stopping them this year and saying that we’re already focusing on the 2026 car only works up to a certain point. But it puts an enormous amount of expectations on next year. If next year’s car is not capable of winning, or at least competing with the front-runners…”

As the curtain prepares to fall on a painful season in Abu Dhabi, the data has given tifosi yet another reason to question Maranello’s strategy – and piled even more pressure on the hugely important 2026 Formula 1 project.