Ferrari’s SF-25 still struggling: ex-engineer says suspension was the wrong focus. Former Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola has criticized the Scuderia’s development choices.

Ferrari, the suspension was not needed: “To go faster you need to work on something else”

According to a former Ferrari engineer, the Scuderia may have made a mistake with its development strategy, focusing on a suspension upgrade that has failed to resolve the real issues of the SF-25. For months, the new Ferrari suspension was described as a kind of holy grail, the key that would unlock the full potential of the car. Yet, on track, the performance gain has proven to be only marginal, leaving Ferrari still struggling to close the gap to McLaren. This is why so many critics have turned their attention to the Maranello team’s choices regarding the technical development of the car.

Fresh criticism aimed at Ferrari’s development direction

The latest attack on the Scuderia has come from Luigi Mazzola, a man who spent many years working inside Ferrari. He explained: “As far as I’m concerned, the development direction was wrong. Ferrari decided to introduce this new suspension, but I don’t know how useful a damper or a suspension really is. In today’s Formula 1 cars, apart from the power unit which is now fixed, the real decisive factors are the tyres and aerodynamics. Aerodynamics are what make you fast, they help you brake, they give you traction and speed through the corners. Only in this way do you achieve the lap time you want.” The comments were made during an interview on the NewsF1 podcast.

Mazzola continued: “Ferrari, instead, puts all the focus on the suspension. Unless you have completely messed up the suspension geometry and its baseline settings, which I don’t think is the case, I don’t understand this approach. What I keep asking myself is: is there someone who really knows how to guide the development direction? Because this situation has been going on for years now. Then people keep blaming Fred Vasseur. He himself has often said that he isn’t a technical expert on the cars, but he must still be able to select the right people. In theory, this was supposed to be the season of the big leap forward, and yet they cannot even manage to secure a podium.”