Ferrari are not having the season they hoped for. Having signed seven times champion Lewis Hamilton for top dollar, thy believed the 2025 Formula One season would be the one that finally ended their seventeen year drought of championship titles.
Yet as the Italian media consistently report, there’s trouble in Maranello and its root and cause sits at the top of the team with Fred Vasseur. He proudly announced at the annual festive bash at the Scuderia’s HQ that the team’s “2025 car will be completely new.”
TJ13 commented at the time this was a remarkably strange decision for a number of reasons. Firstly, in the final year of car design regulations, the teams are scratching around for marginal gains based on the learning they have made over the previous three seasons. To build a whole new car bins much of that knowledge as the team is forced to almost start from scratch.
Ferrari had the quickest car in 2024
Secondly, the SF-24 proved to be the fastest car by far over the final six race weekends of 2024, having closed the 74 point gap to McLaren after Singapore to just 14 come the chequered flag falling in Abu Dhabi.
This bizarre decision has never been fully addressed by Vasseur and the team and their slender lead over Mercedes and McLaren for second place in the title race ignores the elephant in the room. Max Verstappen has almost the number of points that Hamilton and Leclerc have posted together, despite a troublesome RB21 and no help from his team mate and Mercedes are running an 18 year old rookie alongside George Russell.
The Achilles heel of the SF-24 has been its inability to run with a suspension setup that optimises the underfloor downforce without breaking ride height regulations measured by the thickness of the ‘plank’ at the end of the Grand Prix.
At the second round of the 2025 championship in China, Lewis Hamilton was disqualified by the FIA scrutineers for running his car at an illegal ride height and the problems have persisted for the entire campaign this season. A suspension upgrade for the Belgian Grand Prix was supposed to fix the problem, but at the subsequent weekend in Hungary disaster struck for Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc reveals Scuderia meddling
Having claimed pole position from the McLaren duo, the monegasque driver dominated the first half of the race. Yet following his second pit stop for fresh tyres he suffered a ‘mysterious’ loss of pace, coming home in a distant fourth a massive 42 seconds behind the winner Lando Norris.
Realising the decision the team had made at his final stop, Leclerc was vocal if coded over team radio. “This is so incredibly frustrating. We’ve lost all competitiveness. You just have to listen to me. I would have found a different way of managing those issues.
Now it’s just undrivable. Undrivable. It’s a miracle if we finish on the podium.”
To prevent excessive plank wear, Ferrari had been instructing its drivers to “lift and coast” during the latter part of many of the Grand Prix. This prevents the nose from diving excessively under breaking and wearing out the crucial underfloor skid block.
Russell speaks about Verstappen rumours
Italian media on Ferrari’s case
It became evident that Ferrari were concerned over the plank wear and had pumped up the tyre pressures for Leclerc’s last stint in an effort to raise the ride height and prevent a repeat of the Chinese result for Hamilton. Leclerc’s message clearly indicated he believed he could have managed the situation by doing the usual “lift and coast,” something he later unconvincingly retracted after being briefed by the team.
The Italian media this year have often portrayed Ferrari as ‘bumbling idiots’ as their trackside operations and message boy style radio communications from the race engineers make them sound like a junior F2 team. Fred Vasseur too has been under the spotlight and it was believed by the Italian press he wouldn’t receive a contract extension, something hurriedly rushed through by the Scuderia before the summer break.
Vasseur and the senior engineers at Ferrari at times appear a little sensitive to the criticism they receive. In Canada he described media reports as a “disrespectful” distraction and claimed the speculation over which department was to blame for Ferrari’s lack lustre season were hurting his staff’s efforts.
Fred Vasseur hyper sensitive
He even went as far as blaming the Italian press for the team’s poor results, stating “If they want [us] to be successful at one stage, we have also to be able to work in a clean environment. And we are not in this situation so far.”
The Maranello sensitivity appears to have returned after an off the cuff remark made by Lando Norris at the Mexican Grand Prix. Following Saturday’s qualifying session the top three drivers were asked whether they were concerned about cooling in the baking heat and altitude of nearly 7,000 feet.
One of the ways of keeping the brakes cool in such conditions is also to “lift and coast,” which means the driver comes of the throttle earlier than is optimum and coasts towards the initial part of the corner entry.
Lando Norris who had claimed pole position, laughed when the question was posed and responded by referring the matter to the two Ferrari drivers alongside him. “I mean, ask these guys – they’re pros at it. These guys, they do it every race. Yeah, I think you always have to do it a little bit, but never as much as these guys.”
Presidential candidate sues the FIA
Ferrari upset with Norris
During the race commentary on Sky F1, David Croft revealed that Ferrari were not amused by Lando’s jibe the previous day. “Lando Norris picked up on that in the top-three press conference after qualifying when he was asked about lift and coast.
“He said, ‘Well ask these two, they do it way more than we do’, which upset Ferrari a bit because they said that, ‘Actually, we don’t.’” The reality as in Hungary was different from the ferrari explanation. Lewis Hamilton alone was told eighteen times during the race to lift and coast, which of course sacrifices lap time each time this is performed.
Lewis Hamilton is hoping Ferrari start with a clean slate for 2026, as the clock is ticking on the remainder of his career. Yet with the persistent chatter of disharmony in Maranello, ridiculous decisions will continue – like building a brand new car in the final year of a set of F1 technical regulations.
FIA blind to F1’s next tragedy in the making
Liam Lawson is under fire following his behaviour at the recent 2025 Mexican Grand Prix. After suffering front wing damage on lap one, the Racing Bull’s driver immediately returned to the pits for a new nose cone.
On his return to the circuit, there were double waved yellow flags as he approached turn one, because race control had sent marshals out to recover the debris which was said to be at the apex of the corner.
Data now shows Lawson failed to obey the regulations for double waved yellows which is “slow down and be prepared to stop.” Mexico’s motorsports federation, OMDAI, haven’t published a report on the incident with supporting evidence from on board camera shots together with long range camera angles…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
