2025 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[Xyz22]

Seems Leclerc has made some good progress in this regard, judging based on his 2025 qualifying performance at Mexico.

We don't know that. Hamilton isn't a benchmark anymore. Leclerc's qualy time in Mexico this year (1.15.848) was only 1 tenth faster than Sainz's pole time from last year (1.15.946). Perhaps Sainz would have gone faster this year. Leclerc also crashed in low grip conditions of qualifying in Baku. He struggled in low grip conditions in Silverstone, spun the car in Las Vegas qualifying, and crashed the car on the warmup lap in rain before the Miami sprint when his teammate did not.

Leclerc spun in Vegas?

[catent]

Leclerc was also outmatched in a wet Silverstone. But we already knew for many years that low grip conditions is not to his liking.

Ferrari’s cars have been notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions for many seasons now, and Hamilton himself said as much.

Much of Leclerc’s struggles at Silverstone were due to poor tire choice. Wet weather racing was a strength of his at the junior level.

[catent]

Hamilton is also on record saying he nearly dropped the car during the Miami sprint reconnaissance lap.

I think the agenda is clear, given what’s being said here.

You won’t find me in a Mercedes thread analyzing Russell’s shortcomings, nor in a Red Bull thread trying to find Verstappen’s faults. YMMV.

[venkyhere]

Leclerc was also outmatched in a wet Silverstone. But we already knew for many years that low grip conditions is not to his liking.

Ferrari’s cars have been notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions for many seasons now, and Hamilton himself said as much.

Much of Leclerc’s struggles at Silverstone were due to poor tire choice. Wet weather racing was a strength of his at the junior level.

What does this mean, actually, at crude physics/engg level, other than the lack of downforce resulting in lack of grip, when other teams can manage whenever the 'planned ride height' increases due to the bigger inter/wet tyres ? (irrespective of whether the floor downforce comes from flat/ground-effect)

[catent]

Leclerc was also outmatched in a wet Silverstone. But we already knew for many years that low grip conditions is not to his liking.

Ferrari’s cars have been notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions for many seasons now, and Hamilton himself said as much.

Much of Leclerc’s struggles at Silverstone were due to poor tire choice. Wet weather racing was a strength of his at the junior level.

What does this mean, actually, at crude physics/engg level, other than the lack of downforce resulting in lack of grip, when other teams can manage whenever the 'planned ride height' increases due to the bigger inter/wet tyres ? (irrespective of whether the floor downforce comes from flat/ground-effect)

Not a clue. Leclerc also indicated that wet weather driving hasn’t been a strength of Ferrari’s for some time and they plan to work on that (he also took personal accountability for some of those on-track struggles, too).

The SF-75 went quite well at Monaco in the soaking wet, in Leclerc’s hands. But we also know that was pre-TD 39, which effectively neutered that racecar.

[Xyz22]

Ferrari’s cars have been notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions for many seasons now, and Hamilton himself said as much.

Much of Leclerc’s struggles at Silverstone were due to poor tire choice. Wet weather racing was a strength of his at the junior level.

What does this mean, actually, at crude physics/engg level, other than the lack of downforce resulting in lack of grip, when other teams can manage whenever the 'planned ride height' increases due to the bigger inter/wet tyres ? (irrespective of whether the floor downforce comes from flat/ground-effect)

Not a clue. Leclerc also indicated that wet weather driving hasn’t been a strength of Ferrari’s for some time and they plan to work on that (he also took personal accountability for some of those on-track struggles, too).

The SF-75 went quite well at Monaco in the soaking wet, in Leclerc’s hands. But we also know that was pre-TD 39, which effectively neutered that racecar.

The F1 75 looked good in Monaco because it was lighter and had more downforce than all other cars minus the RB. The SF 25 was a worse car than the racing bull and even more exposed on inters and wet tyres.

Also even the F1 75 later in the season was absolutely garbage on inters tyres as we saw in Suzuka. Perez, one of the slowest driver in the world, was looking like Senna

[edu2703]

Sainz, when he was at Ferrari, also didn't perform well on wet conditions. I think he was even worse than Leclerc in that regard, as I only remember him crashing in every wet race he ran for Ferrari.

Then in Las Vegas this year, on a wet track, he qualified P3 in a Williams.

[Xyz22]

Sainz, when he was at Ferrari, also didn't perform well on wet conditions. I think he was even worse than Leclerc in that regard, as I only remember him crashing in every wet race he ran for Ferrari.

Then in Las Vegas this year, on a wet track, he qualified P3 in a Williams.

Yeah, overall he performed worse than Leclerc in the wet (sometimes better, but a lot of times worse).
It's quite clear that the underlying issue is the car, as Lewis was also struggling massively.

[Gillian]

Leclerc was also outmatched in a wet Silverstone. But we already knew for many years that low grip conditions is not to his liking.

Ferrari’s cars have been notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions for many seasons now, and Hamilton himself said as much.

Much of Leclerc’s struggles at Silverstone were due to poor tire choice. Wet weather racing was a strength of his at the junior level.

What does this mean, actually, at crude physics/engg level, other than the lack of downforce resulting in lack of grip, when other teams can manage whenever the 'planned ride height' increases due to the bigger inter/wet tyres ? (irrespective of whether the floor downforce comes from flat/ground-effect)

Overall lack of mechanical grip (some ride height induced, exaggerated by wet tires) + overall mediocre tire warmup (partially due to former and a also due to pirelli black magic).

[PlatinumZealot]

Ferrari’s cars have been notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions for many seasons now, and Hamilton himself said as much.

Much of Leclerc’s struggles at Silverstone were due to poor tire choice. Wet weather racing was a strength of his at the junior level.

What does this mean, actually, at crude physics/engg level, other than the lack of downforce resulting in lack of grip, when other teams can manage whenever the 'planned ride height' increases due to the bigger inter/wet tyres ? (irrespective of whether the floor downforce comes from flat/ground-effect)

Not a clue. Leclerc also indicated that wet weather driving hasn’t been a strength of Ferrari’s for some time and they plan to work on that (he also took personal accountability for some of those on-track struggles, too).

The SF-75 went quite well at Monaco in the soaking wet, in Leclerc’s hands. But we also know that was pre-TD 39, which effectively neutered that racecar.

Monaco is not a good barometer for car characteristics. You crank up downforce to the max and aero balance doesn't matter much.

[deadhead]

Would be interesting to see how Leclerc does in a car that's solid on a wet track

[AR3-GP]

Vettel:

“2015 was a very strong year, '17, '18 – and then '19 and in fairness '20, I was on my way down already. And I'm happy to say that now because I didn't have that, really, last ultimate push anymore.”

“Charles had so much energy,” he pointed out. In fairness I was spoiled – I mean, I won four championships, I won so many races, I had so many poles, whatever.

“And Charles came in, and when we finished fifth and sixth he was over the moon with a fifth and sixth, because [it was a] different stage of his career and the first time in a competitive car. I think that's when I started to struggle a bit.

“Then 2020 comes along, really awkward year with COVID, we're not racing, I get this fantastic break that I never had and enjoyed it so much with the family.

“At the same time I was becoming aware with the kids growing of problems in the world and how they started to affect me and I'm reflecting them. I would say at that time I was probably not on the peak anymore.”

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/i-was ... /10786167/

This interview is from 1-2 months ago (although it has been recycled today by autosport). There was a longer version in the original publication. In that version, he also talked about how he began to dislike travel and then he knew he was done with F1. He stayed around a couple of years longer than he should have.

I'm sure that Hamilton will reflect a few years and reach the same conclusion.

[bluechris]

What Ferrari will really do with the new engine fiasco if it's real? After 76 years i think for once they need to veto it.

[dialtone]

What Ferrari will really do with the new engine fiasco if it's real? After 76 years i think for once they need to veto it.

They can’t veto engines, they can only veto rule changes, not even all of them, anything safety based can’t be vetoed.

[edu2703]

What Ferrari will really do with the new engine fiasco if it's real? After 76 years i think for once they need to veto it.

Ferrari doesn't have absolute veto power in F1. Its veto power is limited only to changes in the regulations.

Regarding the compression ratio issue, the only thing Ferrari can do is exert its political clout to pressure the FIA, along with Honda and Audi, to ban the trick, as it has done several times to ban "tricks" from other teams in the past, with its usual threat to leave F1 if the FIA ​​does nothing.

Personally, I believe there's an overreaction to this. Absolutely nobody knows if Mercedes and Red Bull will actually gain 15hp more with this trick. And furthermore, 15hp more than what? Nobody will know the true power of the engines until they hit the track.

Having a more powerful ICE won't make much difference when the PU power in 2026 will be 52/48 from the combustion engine and electric motor. A more efficient electric motor and better power management to avoid clipping on the straights will make a much bigger difference than having a powerful combustion engine.

We'll see how this unfolds on the track, but I believe the FIA ​​will definitely do something if it's proven on the track that Mercedes and Red Bull engines have a considerable power advantage over the others. The political pressure from Ferrari will be too great for the FIA ​​to ignore, especially accompanied by two other manufacturers.

I've said elsewhere the FIA ​​shouldn't opt ​​for "nuclear" options like banning Mercedes and Red Bull engines, forcing them to redesign their engines less than three months before the season starts, which they definitely won't be able to do in time. They should explore "palliative" solutions like adding ballast to the cars or electronically limiting fuel flow to negate the power gains they would have with this trick, while both commit to developing a legal engine for 2027.

In short, I'm not really worried about this at the moment. F1 publications will certainly hype this "scandal" to the extreme to generate clicks during the off-season, but until pre-season testing, no team and no engine manufacturer knows where they will be in the pecking order in 2026.