The Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team can’t catch a break, leaving its fans to wonder if the legendary team’s 2025 season is already slipping away.
Ferrari has encountered significant problems during the young 2025 season and has been unable to deliver consistent results, even though it showed early potential. The team could not meet expectations even after Lewis Hamilton won the China Sprint because ride height problems with the SF-25 car have made it hard to perform at a level that drivers or the team are accustomed to.
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Ferrari’s season kicked off on a sour note
The problems for team principal Fred Vasseur started during the Australian Grand Prix, after the team made an upward adjustment to the SF-25 ride height, probably to meet FIA plank wear regulations. This modification made the car perform worse on medium-speed turns and resulted in decreased performance.
“We found something on the car that has been underperforming for the last three races, so I am really hoping when that is fixed that I will start getting better results.” – Lewis Hamilton
The team reduced the ride height at the Chinese Grand Prix for better aerodynamics, but Hamilton’s plank wear exceeded the limit, so he was disqualified. Charles Leclerc received a different penalty in China, which led to his disqualification, but not because of excessive plank wear.
“We all want to run the car lower, we would all have more downforce in the situation, for everybody but there is a limit,” Vasseur said after Japan. “The limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulations. We are all spending the weekend on where is the limit and where can we run the car a bit lower and then you are too low. It is the same for everybody and we all know with this type of car, performance is a lot linked to the ride height.”
Hamilton finished seventh at the Japanese Grand Prix, followed by Leclerc’s fourth place, as Ferrari maintained respectable results, although they remained far from the leaders. He confirmed the ongoing problem by stating that the team discovered a performance-related issue that affected the last three races, and he expected better results after the issue was resolved.
“We found something on the car that has been underperforming for the last three races, so I am really hoping when that is fixed that I will start getting better results,” the seven-time world champion Hamilton said on Sunday. “I’m losing just over a tenth a lap with the issue we have. I’m hoping at the next race it’s fixed.”
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Ferrari “stiff setup” chatter continues
According to paddock rumors, Scuderia Ferrari struggles to maintain a stiff setup when cars are fully fueled, which leads them to increase ride height at the expense of speed. The China disqualification proved that Ferrari struggles more than other teams to achieve the right balance.
Ferrari encountered more problems during the Japanese Grand Prix because of its challenging high-speed corners and steep sections. Ferrari scored points through both drivers, but the team stayed far behind the winner Max Verstappen and the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri. The team must address the problem Hamilton identified before they can enhance the SF-25 ride height for better performance while adhering to regulations.
Ferrari rumors aren’t dying down
Sky News pundit and former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve also commented on these rumors as they continue to plague the Ferrari garage.
“It gives credit to the rumor that there’s something at the rear and they have to run it higher and so on,” Villeneuve said. “So it sounds like a stiffness issue somewhere. Something that’s happening and it looks like they are making a whole new bit because they are not sure which one is creating the issue.”
If they cannot resolve these problems, their season may end prematurely. At the same time, they start working on their 2026 car development because their performance gap with their top competitors continues to grow. They trail the Constructors’ Champion leader, McLaren, by a whopping 76 points and third-place Red Bull by 26 points.
Ferrari must quickly improve as they head to Bahrain this week and Saudi Arabia the following week. Hamilton, Leclerc, and Ferrari must show they can improve performance across multiple events to prove that Ferrari and Vasseur can stay competitive in 2025.
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