Ferrari’s discomfort in Formula 1 is heartbreaking. It might be because the historic Maranello team set a sad record with the unexpected double disqualification at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit, but at the end of the second race of the 2025 Formula 1 season, disappointment took over. As often happens in Formula 1 and in sport in general, the emotional component clouded the clarity in analyzing what happened in Shanghai and, especially, the outcome of the next twenty-two rounds.
Let’s be clear, the Sunday defeat of the Prancing Horse is a tough blow to accept because it goes beyond performance factors. Being “caught” by the International Federation, which found two separate violations of the sporting regulations, is an embarrassing situation, even in terms of image. For this reason, the Prancing Horse’s press office rushed to release a statement.
The document emphasized that no wrongdoing had been directly committed. We are talking about good faith, which perhaps did not even need to be stressed, and which had already been acknowledged by the FIA delegates. A stain capable of erasing the joy of the previous days, when Lewis Hamilton managed to take pole position and win the sprint race with great authority.
Rationality should go beyond the bitter disappointment, but it’s equally natural to understand the frustration of Ferrari fans, who once again feel “seduced” and abandoned by the historic Italian team. It is impossible to think otherwise. This was certainly not the start of the season desired, primarily by the men of the Maranello team, after the celebrations and the declarations made to fuel the clearly stated objective: to win a Formula 1 title.
More than any other team, Ferrari tried to go all-in on the last season with the current regulatory framework. The fact that new technical paradigms were explored and used on the SF-25 confirms this assumption. If the weekend in Australia had been dismissed as a serious but absolutely recoverable misstep, what happened last weekend seems like a knockout blow to the Red team’s world championship ambitions and more.
Lando Norris’s success at the Albert Park circuit in Australia and the McLaren one-two last weekend in the Chinese Grand Prix confirmed what had been seen since the Bahrain pre-season testing session: McLaren’s project is technically mature and competitive, built on the certainties acquired last season and the start of the 2025 Formula 1 campaign is therefore in line with predictions. Essentially, the two MCL39 cars started the 2025 F1 championship where last year’s campaign had ended. And at least for now, the competition has not troubled the Woking team.
The one-two by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris was achieved with ease. Perhaps the cars of the historic English team had more to give, but they preferred to manage their rivals comfortably, without seeking unnecessary bursts of speed that could have been detrimental in the complex management of Pirelli tires. At this point, is it all over? Should we once again put away the hope of seeing a close championship this year?
The warning from last season should have taught fans and the media that, in an extralarge championship like the current Formula 1, there is time and opportunity to make up the gap. Just think about the lesson given to the rivals by Red Bull, twelve months ago with Max Verstappen, precisely at the Shanghai circuit, only to gradually lose competitiveness over the course of the season. The perception is that McLaren is not a bulldozer like the RB19 single-seater.
There is a technical advantage, but it could be offset by the evolutionary or corrective process of Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull. Probably, today, anger and disappointment are such that considering this possibility seems unlikely. But this is exactly what happened last year. However, it is necessary to accelerate all actions aimed at making the performance step in order to be able to duel equally with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The competition is therefore working to close the gap. Ferrari has shown that the SF-25 car can achieve absolute performance of considerable respect, during the last sprint weekend. The mission for the men in Red, certainly not easy, will be to replicate, over the 300 kilometers distance, the good things done with a low amount of fuel onboard. Maranello The team was highly aware of this, even before the second eastern round of the 2025 Formula 1 championship.
Technical director Loic Serra did not take part in the trip to China in order to focus efforts on resolving the current technical shortcomings of the 677 project. A car designer with a too-short operating window, which offers minimal degrees of freedom to the Ferrari engineers and technicians in defining an optimal setup. It remains to be seen whether these are simply issues related to the learning curve of a new car.
We are talking about a single-seater that uses technical solutions that represent a strong discontinuity with the previous cars. Or whether the SF-25 needs invasive modifications. The Formula 1 calendar is not friendly with Ferrari when looking at the upcoming rounds. After the break, there will be a triple-header of races: Japan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Essentially, for those who are behind, a first update should be decided within the next two weeks without much time to assess the quality of the updates. Otherwise they already may find themselves with a huge gap to recover in terms of points.
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