At the end of Friday’s sessions at the 2025 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance and launched a clear challenge to rivals McLaren. From Vasseur’s point of view, the rest of the weekend at Silverstone could offer the most intense and balanced fight seen so far this season, especially in the race, where Ferrari appeared to show strong pace compared to a more conservative McLaren approach.
Exactly one year ago, Ferrari arrived at Silverstone surrounded by uncertainties, mainly due to the introduction of a new floor that failed to deliver the expected performance and reintroduced the problem of aerodynamic bouncing. Twelve months later, the mood within the Maranello-based team is markedly more optimistic. Even the body language of the Ferrari engineers now reveals a hint of satisfaction, with visible improvements encouraging a more hopeful outlook.
The overall verdict from the first day of running is positive, especially regarding race pace, rather than single-lap performance—something that has already been observed at other circuits this year. The most encouraging takeaway is that, unlike previous Fridays where Ferrari often ended the day trailing both Mercedes and Red Bull, this time the SF-25 looks much more capable of fighting for the front rows of the grid.
Mercedes is reportedly hoping for a significant drop in temperatures to regain competitiveness, while Red Bull Racing is going through a challenging phase, reminiscent of their struggles at Silverstone in the 2024 season. Last year, the RB19 suffered on the fast-flowing corners of the British track, and early signs suggest the RB20 is facing similar difficulties this weekend. All eyes will be on Saturday to see if the situation can be turned around.
As Fred Vasseur emphasized before the start of the weekend, the key is not just improvement but being ready to capitalize on any opportunity that arises. To do so, the first essential step was to put both Mercedes and Red Bull behind. And based on Friday’s results, Ferrari appears to be on the right path.
Speaking to Sky Italia at the end of Free Practice 2, Frédéric Vasseur was upbeat about the team’s progress: “The day went well. Everything was positive in both FP1 and FP2. This afternoon, even during the race simulation, our pace was there and it was consistent,” he explained.
Looking at the lap times, Charles Leclerc’s stint showed minimal degradation, despite a relatively aggressive opening pace in the 1:30 range—an observation Vasseur also highlighted. In the case of Lewis Hamilton, however, tire graining became a problem. The seven-time world champion was forced to pit earlier than scheduled to change tires. The early push at the beginning of the stint likely contributed to the graining issue, which became severe enough to require an unscheduled stop.
“Maybe we pushed a little too much at the start of the race simulation, but being aggressive is also encouraging for tomorrow. We’ll be starting from scratch again since the gaps between the teams are minimal. But this could turn into a fantastic fight—the best we’ve seen since the beginning of the season,” Vasseur added.
In contrast, McLaren’s drivers approached their race simulations more cautiously, maintaining very stable lap times early on before posting some very impressive times toward the end of their stints. It’s clear the teams have adopted very different strategies.
“You need to find the right balance,” Vasseur said. “You might start a race a bit more conservatively, but you can’t be too slow either, or you’ll end up stuck in traffic. So, it’s all about finding that sweet spot. Maybe today we pushed too much, but honestly, I think it’s fine. It’s the best way to find the limit—as long as you don’t overdo it.”
Even when analyzing the qualifying simulations, there were noticeable differences between the two Ferrari drivers. Lewis Hamilton looked sharp and more effective in the slower sections of the track, while Charles Leclerc appeared more competitive through the medium-to-high-speed corners. Hamilton struggled slightly in Turn 6 and coming out of the high-speed sequence where driver skill plays a crucial role, especially because of the heavy steering inputs required. Still, both drivers will need to close the gap to the McLarens, particularly in the slower sections of the lap.
Much of the attention this weekend remains on the recent updates introduced by Ferrari, especially the new floor that debuted at the Austrian Grand Prix. However, Frédéric Vasseur emphasized that success does not come from a single upgrade, but from putting together all the necessary elements—highlighting, once again, the importance of execution, a recurring theme in Ferrari’s 2025 season.
“I hope the new floor helped us,” Vasseur admitted, “but honestly, I think it’s more about putting everything together—having a good setup, good balance, and ensuring the drivers are fully focused. That’s more important than the tenth of a second you might gain from a single upgrade. Of course, the updates help because they put you in a better overall position. And once you’re there, you start paying more attention to the small details. It becomes a kind of virtuous cycle.”
“Today, I think everything went very well,” Fred Vasseur concluded, “but let’s see how things develop tomorrow. We shouldn’t get carried away with expectations. We need to focus on ourselves. We’re not fully satisfied yet with the car balance or the lap times. It’s a difficult track because the first sector is quite slow, and then you go into high-speed corners—but overall, we’re in a good place.”
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