The 2025 Formula 1 British Grand Prix weekend came to a difficult end for Scuderia Ferrari, which encountered several problems throughout the race at Silverstone. Despite showing promise in all three Free Practice sessions, the team’s performance dropped significantly in qualifying and completely collapsed during the race under wet conditions. Just moments after the checkered flag waved, Scuderia Ferrari’s Team Principal Frederic Vasseur explained the key issues that affected the SF-25 during Sunday’s race.
Right from the formation lap, things took a turn for the worse for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver was among the very first to dive into the pits in an attempt to switch from intermediate to slick compound tyres. Unfortunately, the track conditions were not yet suitable for that type of tyre. While the first sector of the circuit was relatively dry, the final three corners were still completely soaked, making the move extremely risky and ultimately counterproductive.
Even after switching back to the Pirelli intermediate tyres later in the race, Charles Leclerc’s lap times failed to improve significantly. The Monegasque never found the right rhythm, and after a costly mistake in the closing stages of the Grand Prix, he ended up outside the points-paying positions. In contrast, Lewis Hamilton — racing at his home Grand Prix — kept Ferrari’s podium hopes alive until the final stages. However, despite his efforts and resilience, the seven-time world champion eventually had to surrender his position to an outstanding Nico Hülkenberg.
“For us, it was a very tough race from the very first lap,” Frederic Vasseur told Sky Sport. “Charles Leclerc took a gamble by pitting immediately for slicks, but at that moment, he had a strong feeling about the track conditions. The race was extremely chaotic — with multiple Safety Cars deployed every 10 minutes or so, and continuous tyre changes from slicks back to intermediates. Overall, our pace was decent… not at the level of McLaren, but definitely better than that of Mercedes and Red Bull in certain phases.”
The French team principal also pointed out one of Ferrari’s most limiting factors during the race at Silverstone: “Our biggest problem today was overtaking. When stuck behind another car, everyone suffered massively from dirty air. But when we had clean air in front, our race pace was solid. I completely understand Charles Leclerc’s frustration after qualifying. You’re up there in all the practice sessions, showing strong potential, and then you collapse exactly when it really counts… Anyone would be angry in that situation. I tried to calm him down yesterday, and I’ll do the same again this evening.”
Turning his attention to Lewis Hamilton, Frederic Vasseur added, “Lewis lost a lot of time behind Pierre Gasly. It took five or six laps just to complete one overtake, which shows how much difficulty we had in traffic.”
In summary, while the SF-25 showed glimpses of competitiveness in clean air, the overall performance was undermined by poor tyre decisions, the car’s struggles in mixed-weather conditions, and the inability to efficiently overtake in traffic. These limitations, combined with a chaotic race full of strategy shifts and Safety Car interruptions, prevented Ferrari from converting early-weekend promise into a meaningful result on race day.
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