2025 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[SiLo]

They saw Mclaren and just moved to 2026 development in April apparently.

It means absolutely nothing and RBR has proven that you can develop a car to the very end of the season right before a reg change and still fight at the top the following season. It’s not like they have better resources than Ferrari, right?

They also had probably the one guy in the entire paddock that you would want to make that kind of specific reg change. Ferrari were doing well until TD039 as well.

[dans79]

This whole page about tire pressure answers that question. The team doesn't know in advance that Pirelli will change pressure and obviously increasing it affects the car badly.

It highlights how bad the suspension is though.

Even if they don't know what the pressures will be ahead of time, by this point of the season they should have some idea how to mitigate/minimize the performance loss.

[FW17]

Lewis notebook is a bigger joke than Ted's

[Farnborough]

This whole page about tire pressure answers that question. The team doesn't know in advance that Pirelli will change pressure and obviously increasing it affects the car badly.

It highlights how bad the suspension is though.

Even if they don't know what the pressures will be ahead of time, by this point of the season they should have some idea how to mitigate/minimize the performance loss.

Its not just about setup though, as much about core concept of suspension kinematics that can work with these tyres.

Two designers stand out in thus respect by laying out their first iteration of suspension for this era, AN & James Key, in my view. Those two core platform .... in suspension.... holding superiority in their design and potential for refinement.

This 18" era was always going to demand very specific approach to hold the tyres in optimum performance envelope. Those two hit the bullseye. I don't feel that's by accident, much more knowledge and deeper understanding.

The 18" raises weight, even with the lightest wheel, demands the lightest tyre in attempt to keep the whole assembly in reasonable range, which has penalties that any tyre manufacturer would struggle with.
Used to their finite limits, as that's what F1 demands, they show an expected characteristic. Along with the need to shift pressure in response to track dynamics, fully illustrates how close they are in margins. These are symptoms of F1 demanding to go with this size.
Shifting the pressure out of necessity, to contain failure potential, then shift the tyre component to such a degree that most chassis dynamic can't accommodate this fully.
We can all see the one's that can, and clearly observe those that just haven't the band width in original concept and construction that can't.

[venkyhere]

This whole page about tire pressure answers that question. The team doesn't know in advance that Pirelli will change pressure and obviously increasing it affects the car badly.

It highlights how bad the suspension is though.

Even if they don't know what the pressures will be ahead of time, by this point of the season they should have some idea how to mitigate/minimize the performance loss.

Its not just about setup though, as much about core concept of suspension kinematics that can work with these tyres.

Two designers stand out in thus respect by laying out their first iteration of suspension for this era, AN & James Key, in my view. Those two core platform .... in suspension.... holding superiority in their design and potential for refinement.

Wasn't James Key fired as part of team restructuring ? The grapevine is that it was only after they got Inputs from Rob Marshall, that McLaren sorted out their kinematics.

This 18" era was always going to demand very specific approach to hold the tyres in optimum performance envelope. Those two hit the bullseye. I don't feel that's by accident, much more knowledge and deeper understanding.

The 18" raises weight, even with the lightest wheel, demands the lightest tyre in attempt to keep the whole assembly in reasonable range, which has penalties that any tyre manufacturer would struggle with.
Used to their finite limits, as that's what F1 demands, they show an expected characteristic. Along with the need to shift pressure in response to track dynamics, fully illustrates how close they are in margins. These are symptoms of F1 demanding to go with this size.
Shifting the pressure out of necessity, to contain failure potential, then shift the tyre component to such a degree that most chassis dynamic can't accommodate this fully.
We can all see the one's that can, and clearly observe those that just haven't the band width in original concept and construction that can't.

Considering that 13-inch -> 18-inch change was made to reduce sidewall in the interest of 'travel reduction' inorder to help ground effect, and despite all the 'domino effect' detriments that came with it :
- more unsprung mass leading to beefier and heavier suspension components, increasing sprung mass afterall
- more rotational inertia, slowing down acceleration with the same set of engines as previous era
- less squidgy tyres, reducing quality of contact patch in slow corners where there is no aero loading
we have seen many lap records break (trouncing the W11 mostly) towards the end of this ground effect era (even if some if it can be attributed to track improvements like resurfacing & kerb grinding) , which is a great testimony to the engineering talent within the teams. Yes, there is more downforce and fast corners are even faster due to the higher aero load in the ground effect era, but we know that a large chunk of laptime sits in the slow corners because the tracks haven't changed.

[Farnborough]

Even if they don't know what the pressures will be ahead of time, by this point of the season they should have some idea how to mitigate/minimize the performance loss.

Its not just about setup though, as much about core concept of suspension kinematics that can work with these tyres.

Two designers stand out in thus respect by laying out their first iteration of suspension for this era, AN & James Key, in my view. Those two core platform .... in suspension.... holding superiority in their design and potential for refinement.

Wasn't James Key fired as part of team restructuring ? The grapevine is that it was only after they got Inputs from Rob Marshall, that McLaren sorted out their kinematics.

This 18" era was always going to demand very specific approach to hold the tyres in optimum performance envelope. Those two hit the bullseye. I don't feel that's by accident, much more knowledge and deeper understanding.

The 18" raises weight, even with the lightest wheel, demands the lightest tyre in attempt to keep the whole assembly in reasonable range, which has penalties that any tyre manufacturer would struggle with.
Used to their finite limits, as that's what F1 demands, they show an expected characteristic. Along with the need to shift pressure in response to track dynamics, fully illustrates how close they are in margins. These are symptoms of F1 demanding to go with this size.
Shifting the pressure out of necessity, to contain failure potential, then shift the tyre component to such a degree that most chassis dynamic can't accommodate this fully.
We can all see the one's that can, and clearly observe those that just haven't the band width in original concept and construction that can't.

Considering that 13-inch -> 18-inch change was made to reduce sidewall in the interest of 'travel reduction' inorder to help ground effect, and despite all the 'domino effect' detriments that came with it :
- more unsprung mass leading to beefier and heavier suspension components, increasing sprung mass afterall
- more rotational inertia, slowing down acceleration with the same set of engines as previous era
- less squidgy tyres, reducing quality of contact patch in slow corners where there is no aero loading
we have seen many lap records break (trouncing the W11 mostly) towards the end of this ground effect era (even if some if it can be attributed to track improvements like resurfacing & kerb grinding) , which is a great testimony to the engineering talent within the teams. Yes, there is more downforce and fast corners are even faster due to the higher aero load in the ground effect era, but we know that a large chunk of laptime sits in the slow corners because the tracks haven't changed.

He gave the direction with original concept, later to be developed. As to how it developed, I don't think that's clear in public history, and who was ultimately responsible. Ultimately, those two picked the concept and layout the others didn't. Foresight I'd say and none of them as competent/competitive over this era in its entirety.

I understand he was also in that development of high and inward mounting top knuckle of front suspension that Mercedes adopted to significant success prior to this era. Could be amiss, but that's what I understood at that time..

The 18 were acknowledged at v-high peak but difficult to keep them there, or zone into that for the uninitiated or lacking extreme focus on this aspect as vital to platform.