Troubleshooting at the Scuderia: Ferrari’s search for stability amid a slow beginning to the 2025 season, a shaky start means the gap to the sharp end widens – Ferrari’s start to the 2025 Formula One season has been far from ideal. Once again, a team with championship ambitions finds itself behind its rivals and struggling to string together consistently strong weekends.
Four races into the new season, the Scuderia sits fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, well behind McLaren, who have emerged as the early frontrunners. The gap between the two teams has ballooned to 94 points – a staggering figure at this early stage of the season and a stark reminder of how much work lies ahead for the Maranello outfit.
Part of this deficit can be attributed to the disqualifications in China, but the underlying problems run deeper. Despite flashes of competitiveness, Ferrari has yet to look like a team capable of fighting at the front of the pack. And with other teams – notably McLaren – finding new levels of performance and consistency, the pressure on Ferrari continues to mount.
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Division in the camp
After the season opener in Bahrain, Charles Leclerc was frank in his assessment of the car’s shortcomings. He pointed to a lack of downforce and grip as the main problems plaguing Ferrari’s SF-25. However, his comments didn’t coincide with those of team principal Frédéric Vasseur, who offered a more nuanced interpretation of the situation.
For Vasseur, the issue is not one of concept or design, but of consistency in execution.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the concept,” said Vasseur, responding to the criticism.
Instead, he insisted that the team had shown pace at various points – during the second stint in Bahrain or the sprint race in China, for example – but had failed to deliver over a full weekend.
“There are periods where we can keep up with McLaren,” he said, insisting that the SF-25’s performance ceiling may not be the problem. It’s how often the car hits that ceiling that’s proving difficult.
Bahrain’s strategic dilemma
One of the key moments illustrating Ferrari’s current challenges came in Bahrain, where both Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton – now in red for his debut season with the team – were caught out by an ill-timed safety car. Having used two sets of medium tyres earlier in the race, the drivers were forced to use the hard compound for the final stint.
It was a decision made out of necessity rather than choice, but one that ultimately cost them dearly.
“With the safety car, we didn’t have a choice from our point of view,” explained Vasseur, pointing out that their only alternative was a used set of softs, which was not a viable option in the long run.
He was referring to George Russell’s gamble with the soft compound in the final stint – a gamble that paid off, but one that could easily have gone the other way, depending on how the tyres held up. In Russell’s case, the soft tyres lasted for the final 24 laps, perhaps helped by a build-up of rubber on the track surface late in the race.
Nevertheless, Vasseur stood by Ferrari’s strategy in Bahrain.
“We deliberately paid a price in the first stint to extend the time a bit, and after that the pace was very strong. It could have gone well,” he said, suggesting that the overall plan was sound and only compromised by circumstances beyond their control.
“We can’t complain about the safety car – it’s part of the game”.
Tyre mix confusion
Ferrari’s strategic decisions have also been complicated by the uncertainty surrounding this year’s Pirelli tyre compounds. Across the paddock, teams are still grappling with the nuances of the 2025 rubber. The learning curve remains steep, and Vasseur admitted that everyone is still trying to get a proper understanding of how the new compounds behave in different conditions.
“We’re still in the early stages with these tyre compounds,” said Vasseur.
“I think we’re all a bit in the dark. And I think McLaren are one step ahead of us at the moment.”
This lack of clarity has made strategic decisions more of a gamble than usual. In Bahrain, the soft tyre unexpectedly emerged as the best performing compound late in the race – a twist that caught several teams off guard.
“It depends a lot on the conditions,” said Vasseur, explaining that the hotter temperatures of FP2 had a significant impact on grip levels and the data collected in practice.
In addition, the difference in performance between the tyre compounds is less this year than last, which narrows the window for making bold or optimal choices. The second stint in Bahrain illustrated this confusion well, with Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes all running different strategies and all three compounds on the track at the same time.
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Averaging behind the leaders
Despite occasional flashes of competitiveness, Ferrari’s biggest problem is their inability to sustain that pace over full race distances and weekends.
“If you look at the average of the season so far, we’re missing two, three, maybe four tenths,” said Vasseur, offering a blunt assessment of where the team stands in relation to the competition. Such a deficit, while not insurmountable, is enough to keep Ferrari out of regular podium contention in a field that has become tighter and more competitive.
The team principal admits that downforce remains an area of concern, but believes the more pressing issue is tyre management. Ferrari’s car seems to perform better in more extreme conditions – either very hot or with significantly varying levels of grip – suggesting that its set-up and balance are sensitive to tyre behaviour.
“So it’s more about tyre management than anything else,” emphasises Vasseur.
That’s where Ferrari are currently falling short. Managing degradation, finding the sweet spot in the compound’s performance window and adapting to changing track conditions are areas where McLaren, and to a lesser extent Red Bull and Mercedes, have made progress. Ferrari, meanwhile, are still playing catch-up.
Looking for answers
The gap to McLaren is already considerable, and with Red Bull and Mercedes also showing flashes of top-level pace, Ferrari are running out of time to find a solution. While Vasseur remains calm and pragmatic in his diagnosis of the team’s shortcomings, there’s no denying the sense of urgency in Maranello. The fans have seen too many false dawns in recent seasons and their patience is wearing thin.
The next few races will be decisive. Ferrari must bring updates that not only improve raw pace, but also improve the car’s consistency across different stints and conditions. The SF-25 has shown that it can be fast, but only in fits and starts. Bridging the gap between potential and execution is now Vasseur’s main challenge.
Whether it is refining the set-up window, improving tyre understanding or making aerodynamic gains, the team must act quickly. The clock is ticking and the dream of challenging for the title in 2025 is already starting to fade unless Ferrari can turn isolated strong performances into a reliable trend.
Vasseur’s calm tone and the technical breakdowns are reassuring on the surface, but the reality is that Ferrari is once again in troubleshooting mode – and this time the margin for error is even narrower.
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