After narrowly missing the Constructors’ Championship this season, Scuderia Ferrari is aiming for the big prize in 2025. The 2024 car initiated a conceptual revolution by changing Maranello’s design approach, a transformation too significant to be completed in just one year. The 2025 Ferrari will complete this metamorphosis with new solutions designed to address the weak points of the already impressive SF-24.
Different in shape but, above all, in behavior, the 2024 Ferrari single-seater marks a break from the past. From the bodywork to cooling and suspension systems, the SF-24 car’s geometries are tailored to a new way of working on track. This results in a balance different from previous Ferraris, with a focus entirely on drivability. “We wanted to reduce lap times by delivering a car that is better to drive and robust in any wind and asphalt temperature condition,” explained former technical director Enrico Cardile during the presentation back in February – “Drivability was improved by prioritizing certain aerodynamic aspects over others.”
The revolution’s roots date back to the 2023 Formula 1 season, when the Maranello team undertook extensive analysis to translate drivability into numerical goals, rethinking the aerodynamic map. With this new direction, Ferrari seeks to shed the characteristics typical of the 2023 car and those predating ground-effect regulations—cars with great peak performance but limited to a narrow range of conditions, usually only achievable with new tires in the qualifying session. The result is a more predictable car, easier to develop and understand for drivers, who can now push it to the limit without excessive corrections, preserving the tires better over long distances.
This represents a broader operating window, which, as Frederic Vasseur noted, simplifies setup work: “This is the biggest step forward compared to last year—not that it’s an easy car to handle, but it allows us to reach a good setup compromise for the weekend more quickly.” If Ferrari was able to take the fight to McLaren for the 2024 F1 title until the last lap of the final race, it was thanks to this strong execution, consistently extracting the maximum from the car in both driving and setup.
The qualifying compromise
The concept Ferrari is pursuing aligns with Frederic Vasseur’s guidelines, promoting a race-oriented approach over one focused on single-lap performance. The SF-24 is more effective over long distances, a quality partially derived from its aerodynamics. Ground-effect cars are extremely sensitive to ride height, which changes significantly with fuel load and cornering speeds, which are higher in qualifying. Maranello’s aerodynamicists have shifted the compromise toward race performance, developing a balanced car that is better than McLaren early on and faster than Red Bull in the closing stages. However, the tightening of the field demands better qualifying performance for 2025. A strong race pace becomes difficult to exploit when starting from behind, especially given the growing aerodynamic disruption faced by trailing cars as aerodynamics become more complex.
The balance between qualifying and race performance also relates to tire management. The SF-24 is particularly gentle on tires, with good management of front graining and excellent control of rear degradation, especially in the final laps on softer compounds. By transferring less energy to the tires in 2024, Ferrari has been able to limit overheating, gaining competitiveness as ambient temperatures rise. However, this compromises the ability to quickly bring the tires up to temperature in the opening laps and extract peak grip, contributing to weaker single-lap performance. Ferrari will aim to address this in the 2025 Formula 1 campaign by working on suspension geometries and mechanics. These measures will be essential to adapt to new tires, which Pirelli has developed with higher operating temperatures in mind.
Despite its renewal, the 2024 Ferrari car continues to carry a chronic weakness that has plagued the Scuderia over the past five years. “Our main problem is medium-slow combined corners,” Carlos Sainz stated mid-season, echoing Charles Leclerc’s observations. For years, Ferrari has struggled with instability during the long phases of medium-speed corners, a strength of rival McLaren. This issue partly explains Maranello’s recurring mid-season decline on the sweeping turns of European circuits. It’s a flaw that predates the ground-effect regulations, signaling a specific development approach Ferrari is now trying to correct.
The new floor, tested from Las Vegas onward, represents a strong statement of intent in this regard. Charles Leclerc described it as “a different approach,” which, compared to the previous concept, “is very good in some areas and worse in others.” Ferrari aims to improve its behavior in high-speed sections, where the car skims the ground, and in slower, longer corners, where wide steering angles and yaw expose the floor to wheel turbulence. To achieve this, Ferrari may have to sacrifice some of its current strengths, such as agility in 90° slow corners typical of street circuits, in exchange for a better overall balance.
This is a long-term project that cannot be completed within a single Formula 1 season. The updates brought to the SF-24 address other areas, such as high-speed corners with the Imola package or front-end load with the Singapore wing. “Even if the updates work, there are some characteristics you can’t solve with simple development,” Carlos Sainz summarized. The revolution Ferrari has begun spans two years, with the goal of addressing instability in cornering and other remaining shortcomings by 2025.
The SF-24’s evolution could not be completed in one year. Redesigning a completely different car in such a short time was impossible, requiring certain fixed points amidst the many variables introduced on the 2024 Ferrari. Notable changes include abandoning the wide-body concept in favor of slimmer sidepods to improve airflow quality toward the diffuser. This shift required new strategies for managing turbulence. The implications extend to the chassis, which needed more complex geometries to accommodate bulky electronic components and carve out the narrower sidepod shape.
The SF-24 also features significant changes to the rear, introducing a new suspension concept partially integrated into the gearbox. “It’s a new concept, an innovation for us because it’s a different way of managing the suspension compared to what we’ve done in the past,” explained Enrico Cardile at that moment. Ferrari’s confidence in not conforming to the competition is commendable, as it remains faithful to the rear pull-rod suspension, reinterpreted with a different perspective. Ferrari’s strong performances at Monaco and Baku are partly due to this suspension, which, in balancing airflow management, preserves mechanical behavior over bumps.
Given the numerous changes implemented on the SF-24, Ferrari had to defer some modifications to 2025. For instance, the 2024 front suspension continues the previous setup, leaving questions about whether the next car will explore different geometries, including the pull-rod/push-rod scheme and anti-dive kinematics. The first Ferrari driven by Lewis Hamilton will inherit traits from the car that came close to the Constructors’ Championship but will also introduce new solutions to complete the conceptual shift.
In Abu Dhabi, Charles Leclerc summed up the worries of Ferrari fans for the upcoming year: “There are many examples where we finished a season strongly, only to struggle at the start of the next one.” In the past, Ferrari’s pursuit of maximum performance has undermined the balance of the following car, depriving the team of the consistency needed to fight for titles. This time, however, drivability is the cornerstone of Ferrari’s new concept, implemented across this transitional biennium. The appointment of Loic Serra as Chassis Technical Director aligns with Maranello’s new design philosophy. Loic Serra’s expertise in vehicle dynamics will help channel aerodynamic work toward stability, balance, and versatility.
The 2025 Ferrari will thus complete the revolution begun in 2024 while also defining the approach the Maranello team will take under the 2026 regulations.
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