2025 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[CHT]

I always feel that Ferrari decision to sign LH was a major distraction for the team trying hard to rebuild itself. And now Ferrari engineers have to split their focus to fulfil Charles and Lewis demand whereas in the past, Ferrari could have just focus on Charles as Saintz will be happy to live with anything thrown at him. Hopefully this is just a blip and because their focus is now on 2026.

[erudite450]

this is an insane take, why in the world would Lewis want Fred gone? they have a past with Lewis racing under him in his early career, he's said Fred is a big reason he's at Ferrari and came out this weekend very clearly defending Fred and saying he wants him at Ferrari. If anything it feels like Ham is pushing for an culture shift for Ferrari so Fred can just do his job instead of being bothered by the top brass

The worst case will be Ferrari getting rid of Fred and then Lewis announced his retirement shortly.
A Mike Elliott saga all over again?

Hamilton would not be a loss, to be honest. His behavior to date and public criticism are rather destructive for the team, and he is simply too slow. As for Fred, unfortunately he is failing in his most important task, which is to put together a great team of engineers and improve their efficiency.

Success in F1 depends on creating a team that is developing the best technologies and
methodologies to design a F1 car. To
make a championship winning car, innovation is key not only on
the car features but even more on technique
to develop at a faster rate and
even more important in pursuing the best
values and the best organization which
bring all the people to contribute on the
project as a collective effort.

In this respect, Ferrari has become worse rather than better. I am absolutely not in favor of constantly changing team bosses, because continuity and stability are important factors in a F1 team without which success is not possible, and it is a huge mistake on Ferrari's part since more than a decade to think that an F1 team works like a soccer team, but unfortunately Fred does not seem to be improving the team in any way in these important areas.

His plan was probably to attract people to Ferrari with a driver like Hamilton, as was the case with Schumacher back then. What he overlooked here is the fact that there was a huge difference between the Hamilton of 2025 and the Schumacher of 1996. While Schumacher was young in 1996, at the peak of his abilities and by far the best driver with a long and bright future ahead of him, as well as being known for his ability to develop the car and the team and someone every engineer wanted to work with, Hamilton was long past his prime, old, with no significant future and never known for his ability to develop cars and teams, which does not make him attract engineers. Ten years ago, at the age of 30, this would have been different due to his success and future prospects, but not in 2025.

But Vasseur is not bringing any improvements to the organizational structure itself either. On the contrary. As an engineer who has never worked on racing cars, he speaks with authority on technical development. Serra is the technical director of CHASSIS and therefore not the technical director per se, which means that there are essentially several technical department heads and no one at the top to set the direction and ensure that everyone is working toward that goal. Only Vasseur is above these "division managers," but he lacks the technical knowledge about race cars, which he has never worked on as an engineer and has not learned. This makes Ferrari's entire technical organization inefficient and slow because it lacks a competent "supreme leader" like Ross Brawn used to be.

The fact that people like Elkann and Vigna are putting pressure on the middle management level of engineers and demanding developments means that Ferrari is repeating the very mistakes it made before 1996 and has been repeating constantly since 2007. Here, too, it would be up to Vasseur to bring about improvement, but he lacks the power and authority that people like Todt, Brawn, and Byrne had in collaboration with Schumacher.

Perhaps Vasseur also needs a little more time to create such structures and organization. Unfortunately, however, it must be said that he has achieved very little in this regard so far, and my optimism that he ever will is limited, because, on the one hand, he lacks the power and, on the other hand, he is unable to break down the old and flawed organizational structures. Maybe because of his lack of Power.

Drivers don't build teams, not Schumacher, not Hamilton.

[Schippke]

I'm surely not he only one thinking this, but does anybody get the feeling that this apparent 'Suspension Upgrade' isn't going to change much in the end from a pace/position point of view?

We've got several races now where there has been some minor additions to the car, whilst the likes of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes are more than likely finalising the last few bits of this current generation of cars before moving completely (if not already) towards 2026... so they can no focus on optimisation and getting the most out of the current packages.

Meanwhile, we're still trying to get this concept right with another couple of races before this apparent upgrade will debut... which will no doubt take a couple of races to get dialled in/setup etc... so in the end we'll probably end up as we are; Nabbing a podium due to the others faltering... all whilst loosing ground for next season?

I don't really buy into the whole 'Fire Vasseur' topic that the media is reporting, but Ferrari themselves aren't doing any favours when the Drivers are craving for upgrades whilst Fred is pulling back and saying the team has to execute a better result... For sure he isn't wrong, but there's 2 different calls between drivers and management, so you can begin to understand the rumour mill firing-up yet again.

[Space-heat]

People complaining about Fred and his stance on upgrades.

He is trying to protect the factory team. His job is to take the flack and let everyone else work. Him reiterating Hamilton and LeClerc “we need performance” would do no one back at base any good. He knows more than anyone we are lacking, but saying the execution is not to standard is right. They burned two softs on Hamilton in Q1 and they timed Charles’ second run in Q3 into traffic.

I like Fred. His denial of reality is annoying but understandable. Replacing him now is brain dead. The technical team is finally in place. If the muck the aero in 26’ then sure change shop but that will kick off another 2-3 year cycle.

McL, RB and Merc all have longer term TPs, with gardening leave it is about stacking blocks and adding key personnel over time.

[ali623]

I always feel that Ferrari decision to sign LH was a major distraction for the team trying hard to rebuild itself. And now Ferrari engineers have to split their focus to fulfil Charles and Lewis demand whereas in the past, Ferrari could have just focus on Charles as Saintz will be happy to live with anything thrown at him. Hopefully this is just a blip and because their focus is now on 2026.

That certainly wasn't the case in the slightest with Sainz. But I do agree to an extent, signing a 40 year-old Hamilton, especially in the state Ferrari are in currently wasn't needed. I do think the hype/media attention that came with him was absolutely something Ferrari didn't need right now - alll it did was overhype them (even more than usual) in pre-season and now the current fallout is even larger than it would have been.

[Venturiation]

finally lewis is making changes in the team, 7 years with no title

[ismail1991]

I always feel that Ferrari decision to sign LH was a major distraction for the team trying hard to rebuild itself. And now Ferrari engineers have to split their focus to fulfil Charles and Lewis demand whereas in the past, Ferrari could have just focus on Charles as Saintz will be happy to live with anything thrown at him. Hopefully this is just a blip and because their focus is now on 2026.

That certainly wasn't the case in the slightest with Sainz. But I do agree to an extent, signing a 40 year-old Hamilton, especially in the state Ferrari are in currently wasn't needed. I do think the hype/media attention that came with him was absolutely something Ferrari didn't need right now - alll it did was overhype them (even more than usual) in pre-season and now the current fallout is even larger than it would have been.

I dont think that was the case. Sainz was almost more vocal than Charles. No team other than redbull focuses only on one driver. Sainz and Leclerc were equal in Ferrari. For the hype thing, every year Ferrari hype is huge compared to other teams, it is nothing to do with Lewis. Making a complete new car was the biggest mistake for Ferrari. Their 2024 car was good enough, I am sure they could have make it better this year. Both Leclerc and Hamilton is constantly in argument with their engineers in the radio. It doesnt bode well. I think Ferrari needs to make some changes, I am not talking about the Fred. Maybe driver engineers first, then other stuff.

[Sevach]

I'm surely not he only one thinking this, but does anybody get the feeling that this apparent 'Suspension Upgrade' isn't going to change much in the end from a pace/position point of view?

We've got several races now where there has been some minor additions to the car, whilst the likes of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes are more than likely finalising the last few bits of this current generation of cars before moving completely (if not already) towards 2026... so they can no focus on optimisation and getting the most out of the current packages.

Meanwhile, we're still trying to get this concept right with another couple of races before this apparent upgrade will debut... which will no doubt take a couple of races to get dialled in/setup etc... so in the end we'll probably end up as we are; Nabbing a podium due to the others faltering... all whilst loosing ground for next season?

I don't really buy into the whole 'Fire Vasseur' topic that the media is reporting, but Ferrari themselves aren't doing any favours when the Drivers are craving for upgrades whilst Fred is pulling back and saying the team has to execute a better result... For sure he isn't wrong, but there's 2 different calls between drivers and management, so you can begin to understand the rumour mill firing-up yet again.

The suspension always felt like hoping for a miracle to me, i don't expect a whole lot.
Everyone runs their car as low as it goes within the rules, Ferrari maybe erred on the conservative side in Melbourne, and on the aggressive side in China... and probably has been going for a middle ground ever since, pushing as far as they can.
The infamous "3 mm" from Melbourne is probably not the same for every track, and we don't even know if this new suspension will truly, 100%, fix it.
Not to mention some things might improve, aero performance/stability mainly, others may suffer slightly, curb riding, low speed traction.

Developing a new suspension might still be a worthy thing for next year.
Then again maybe not, maybe we are going back to "ass in the sky" soft suspensions with a lot of travel.

I think Fred is tempering expectations about upgrades while the press keeps saying the suspension will fix everything and turn this car around.
He can't say things like this and then end up with egg on his face.

I dont think that was the case. Sainz was almost more vocal than Charles.

Carlos definitely wasn't a quiet guy happy to be here, he made his presence felt and his voice heard.

[Seanspeed]

finally lewis is making changes in the team, 7 years with no title

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gss79yPWAAA ... name=large

[codetower]

finally lewis is making changes in the team, 7 years with no title

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gss79yPWAAA ... name=large

One of the most ridiculous comments I've heard from him...

[Fakepivot]

finally lewis is making changes in the team, 7 years with no title

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gss79yPWAAA ... name=large

One of the most ridiculous comments I've heard from him...

this is something those annoying superfans to type on twitter. what an embarrassing statement from an ex driver none the less.

[ScuderiaLeo]

I'm surely not he only one thinking this, but does anybody get the feeling that this apparent 'Suspension Upgrade' isn't going to change much in the end from a pace/position point of view?

We've got several races now where there has been some minor additions to the car, whilst the likes of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes are more than likely finalising the last few bits of this current generation of cars before moving completely (if not already) towards 2026... so they can no focus on optimisation and getting the most out of the current packages.

Meanwhile, we're still trying to get this concept right with another couple of races before this apparent upgrade will debut... which will no doubt take a couple of races to get dialled in/setup etc... so in the end we'll probably end up as we are; Nabbing a podium due to the others faltering... all whilst loosing ground for next season?

I don't really buy into the whole 'Fire Vasseur' topic that the media is reporting, but Ferrari themselves aren't doing any favours when the Drivers are craving for upgrades whilst Fred is pulling back and saying the team has to execute a better result... For sure he isn't wrong, but there's 2 different calls between drivers and management, so you can begin to understand the rumour mill firing-up yet again.

It's possible the reason why Vasseur is denying the necessity of upgrades is because he knows the incoming upgrades won't help much. I'd even say that's the probable reason, not just a possible one.

To me it's weird the drivers and the team don't seem to be on the same page at all, you think they'd plan out a single media strategy. That or the drivers just don't care and are ignoring the team's requests to do PR?

The suspension is still some weeks away though, they're not even finished it yet. I'm not expecting them to go from barely getting podiums to winning because of one upgrade, but I'd be very disappointed if it didn't have a performance impact and I'd be worried about next year's car if they didn't make any major progress on this one in six months...

I agree with the sentiment that the team needs multiple years to get their bearings however, firing Vasseur after only a few does nothing. If you look at struggling teams in the past they often needed four or even five years to make progress that stuck.

[deadhead]

The technical team is finally in place.

Considering their current product how can you expect anything different for 2026?

[Space-heat]

The technical team is finally in place.

Considering their current product how can you expect anything different for 2026?

If you tracked this, the suspension issue has been widely reported to be due to Cardille. He was also the one who apparently pushed Ferrari to stick with the suspension geometry on the SF24, also delaying this year front suspension change a year.

Vasseur was interim TD for large parts of the SF25 development and Serra (a vehicle dynamics person) only started in October. If next years car (outside the PU) is bad, then fire away but at least let them fail. If we get a new TD, we will be 24 months recruiting and rebuilding then another 12 months for them to build "their" car.

[f1316]

finally lewis is making changes in the team, 7 years with no title

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gss79yPWAAA ... name=large

One of the most ridiculous comments I've heard from him...

Well I think what he’s saying is that they need to listen to Lewis’ feedback on car design in order to build a competitive car that works in all conditions. Charles can drive around problems very well and perhaps this is taking them down more extreme directions. It doesn’t mean that, if they build a more benign car that’s to Lewis’ liking, they would favour him and it could well be to Charles’ advantage to have such a car anyway.

That’s how I read it, anyway.