Describing Ferrari’s Chinese GP as disastrous is, without exaggeration, the most appropriate way to put it. A weekend that was supposed to provide answers after the disappointing Australian GP only partially achieved that goal—until the Sprint Race, where there was a brief illusion that the Melbourne debacle was merely an isolated event rather than a design flaw. The hope was that the engineers simply hadn’t yet unlocked the SF-25’s full potential. That illusion was short-lived, with Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint win offering a glimmer of hope for a turnaround, but it quickly faded as Ferrari struggled once again, proving to be the fourth-best team on the grid, significantly slower than its direct rivals. In short, the speed seen in the data isn’t translating to the track, meaning the engineers must analyze the gathered information and work hard to regain lost ground.
A new low in China
The weekend ended with Ferrari finishing fifth and sixth on track, never truly in the fight for the podium after a promising start. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could only watch as their rivals pulled away. This was compounded by a double disqualification: Leclerc was excluded from the classification because his car was 1 kg under the minimum weight limit, while Hamilton’s SF-25 was disqualified due to excessive plank wear. This marked an unfortunate first for Ferrari—never before in its history had both cars been disqualified from the same race. Hamilton’s exclusion might have some mitigating factors, as it stemmed from incorrect setup choices caused by a lack of understanding of the car and unpredictable behavior, especially regarding ride height. However, the same cannot be said for Charles Leclerc’s disqualification. According to sources close to Ferrari, the issue with car number 16 was due to a team error in the weight calibration before the race.
Leo Turrini speaks out
The three days in Shanghai will go down in F1 and Ferrari history for all the wrong reasons. The team has never hit such a low, facing a crushing disappointment far worse than even the most pessimistic pre-season predictions. Journalist Leo Turrini addressed this difficult moment on his blog, Profondo Rosso, openly discussing the deep frustration within the team.
“At Ferrari, everyone—absolutely everyone—from top management to Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, including Fred Vasseur, considers the results in Australia and China to be disheartening. Aside from the Shanghai Sprint Race, the flop was glaring. And adding to the misery was a double disqualification, unprecedented in Ferrari’s history. Period. Stubbornly denying the obvious doesn’t make one a true Ferrari fan. And even if, as we all hope, the rest of the season plays out differently, this terrible start will remain on record.”
