The Singapore Grand Prix continued the negative trend seen in recent races for Scuderia Ferrari. The team has now lost second place in the Constructors’ Championship to a resurgent Mercedes, which surprised everyone at the Marina Bay Circuit. The improvement could be attributed to the new front wing introduced by the Brackley team, while Red Bull also confirmed its progress with the latest updates, reigniting Max Verstappen’s hopes of challenging for the title. Meanwhile, McLaren — already crowned Constructors’ Champion — once again demonstrated dominant race pace.
The feeling within the paddock is that Ferrari’s SF-25, which has not received major updates recently, has been overtaken by both the Mercedes W16 and the Red Bull RB21. The Italian team now faces the serious risk of slipping to fourth place in the championship. Mercedes has extended its lead, Red Bull has closed the gap, and team principal Frederic Vasseur openly acknowledges that the situation represents a clear threat to Maranello’s ambitions.
Vasseur: “We didn’t expect these issues. The pace wasn’t bad, but we had to manage 95% of the race”
The Marina Bay race turned into something of a nightmare for Ferrari’s drivers. Right from the formation lap, they were told they would need to perform heavy Lift & Coast (LiCo) management to control brake temperatures. During the opening laps, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were able to fight competitively, but soon they had to focus on temperature control to prevent overheating — a problem that could have damaged the tyres and led to more serious consequences, as was seen in Hamilton’s case toward the end of the race.
Frederic Vasseur explained: “From lap two or three we had to start doing Lift & Coast, and it continued for the entire race. It’s not easy to drive like that. You don’t just lose time because you lift off the throttle at the end of the straight — you also need to adjust your braking points every lap, manage different systems, sometimes the rear brakes, sometimes the front, and make constant changes on the steering wheel. All of this costs time.”
The French team boss did not hide his frustration about how the race unfolded. “We saw that when we were able to push, the pace wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, though, for 95% of the race we had to manage.” Fred Vasseur admitted that Ferrari expected some level of difficulty starting in traffic after a disappointing qualifying session, but he did not foresee such a range of complications. When asked about comments from other drivers — such as Fernando Alonso — who expressed safety concerns, Fred Vasseur was firm: “The car was always safe. Lewis wasn’t pushing like crazy in those laps; he simply adapted his pace, and that’s why he lost so much time.”
For Vasseur, what makes the result especially frustrating is the team’s inability to maximize the current potential of the SF-25. “It’s been two weekends in a row that we start well but fail to extract what the car can deliver. We’re here to push to the maximum, but when we have to manage all these factors, it becomes very difficult.”
Vasseur explains the strategic call and Hamilton’s race
Vasseur was also asked about Lewis Hamilton’s race and the strategy Ferrari used with him. “Lewis was probably a bit faster than Kimi, but they were both on the same tyre compound with similar laps, so there wasn’t a big enough delta to overtake. We decided to pit him and try something different.”
When asked why the team didn’t apply the same strategy to Charles Leclerc, Vasseur explained: “At that point, Charles was ahead. We wanted to attack Kimi and could do that with Lewis, who was behind, by stopping him and fitting a set of Soft tyres.”
Regarding Hamilton’s situation, Vasseur confirmed there were no safety concerns for the seven-time World Champion. He also downplayed the importance of Hamilton setting the fastest lap of the race: “It’s a fake lap. We were on a different strategy with fresh tyres. The pace was good and consistent with the tyre delta, but it doesn’t mean anything more than that.”
McLaren’s issues and Ferrari’s battle for second place
During the post-race press conference, Fred Vasseur was also asked about the radio problems that affected McLaren during the race. His response was clear and slightly ironic: “Even the rich cry. They’ve won the championship, but they still have their own problems to solve. That’s normal when you’re fighting for the Drivers’ title.”
Still, Vasseur’s attention remains firmly on Ferrari’s battle for second place in the Constructors’ standings. The Frenchman’s stance was very direct: “If we don’t solve these problems, there’s no way we can fight. We must work hard to understand the causes and fix them.”
With just a few races left in the season, Ferrari faces a crucial test. The team must not only recover performance but also find reliability and operational consistency to avoid losing ground to both Mercedes and Red Bull. The message from Frederic Vasseur is crystal clear: without a swift and effective response, Ferrari risks finishing the 2025 Formula 1 season outside the top three — a result that would be unacceptable for a team with its history and ambitions.
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