TECH ANALYSIS: The 'significant changes' that are giving Ferrari confidence in their 2025 car

Ferrari describe their 2025 challenger, the SF-25, as ‘a completely new car’ using last year’s machine only as a basic foundation. Certainly, there is more external evidence of changes than on the other ’25 cars to be released so far.

As expected, Technical Director Loic Serra has overseen a switch from Ferrari’s traditional push rod front suspension to a pull rod layout (as favoured by McLaren and Red Bull) but the rear remains pull rod (in contrast to those teams).

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“The thinking behind this change in architecture was to clean up the airflow around the car,” say Ferrari, “while also giving greater scope for further aero development, which had pretty much been exhausted with the previous iteration.”

Last year’s car was invariably the fastest of all through slow corners but lagged behind McLaren and Red Bull through high-speed corners, with a lower downforce ceiling.

Ferrari appear to have extended the gap between the front axle and the cockpit, giving a longer wheelbase on the SF-25

There has been a switch from Ferrari’s traditional push rod front suspension to a pull rod layout

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Ferrari appear to have extended the gap between the front axle and the cockpit, giving a longer wheelbase on the SF-25

Ferrari have elected to attack this shortfall in quite an aggressive way. The new pull rod front suspension allows a greater degree of anti-dive to be built into the geometry, in turn allowing the car to be run lower and enhancing the downforce created by the underbody at high speeds. But, as Serra says: “The front suspension is only the most obvious of many significant changes.”

Looking at the images of the car and comparing them to its predecessor, it would appear that Ferrari have increased the wheelbase by extending the gap between the front wheels and cockpit. This in turn allows the sidepods to begin further behind the wheels than previously, which should allow the airflow to the pods and underfloor to be less disturbed by the front wheel wake.

It implies that the previous arrangement played its part in exhausting the aero potential of the SF-24 through those high-speed bends. With the greater space between the wheels and cockpit, the airflow has a better chance of being directed with greater energy and precision.

“It was designed with the aim of maximising the development potential of the car,” say Ferrari, “in a season when, thanks to the long stability of the regulations now in their final year, one can expect the field to be extremely evenly matched with just thousandths of a second in lap time making the difference.”

Ferrari 2024 and 2025 comparison1.png — Comparing the radiator inlets of the SF-24 (top) and the new SF-25 (bottom) shows that, with the sidepod beginning further back from the wheels, the upper lip which separates the airflow going into the radiator with that along the sidepod top now overhangs significantly more

The greater volume ahead of the sidepods has allowed the undercut to be enhanced, the radiator inlets are subtly different and the rear wing design appears to be new. Ferrari report that they have made detail changes to the operation of the power unit to give a better spread of performance through all circuit types.

Ferrari exude a great sense of confidence about the car and the team are clearly excited by the potential shown in simulation. Team boss Frederic Vasseur summarises that feeling: “We feel ready as a team to take the extra step required to be the best.

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“We are aware of the challenges that await us, but we are ready to give it our all, to be competitive at the highest level, knowing we can also rely on the support and enthusiasm of our fans, who always inspire us.

“Now it’s time to concentrate on the job in hand and let the track do the talking. I can’t wait for this season to start.”