Vasseur admits to ‘not ideal’ start for Ferrari in 2025 and addresses ride height concerns

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur conceded it had not been an ideal start to 2025 for the Scuderia following a disappointing race in Japan, with Charles Leclerc finishing fourth and Lewis Hamilton seventh.

It leaves Ferrari without a Grand Prix podium from the first three races of 2025, although that is tempered by the fact that Hamilton won the Sprint event in China from pole position.

However, Leclerc’s P4 start in Japan is the best grid slot either team mate has managed for the Grand Prix proper, as they have watched rivals McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes make stronger starts to the season.

It puts Ferrari in a very similar spot to that from last season, but they did turn their form around in 2024 and even won a handful of races including memorable successes in Monaco and Monza.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 06: Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari looks on on the grid — Leclerc has a best finish of fourth this season from the first three Grands Prix

“I’m used [to it] because the last two years we started like this,” Vasseur joked when asked how challenging the start to the year had been.

“For sure it is not ideal and I would prefer to win the first one. But we don’t need to change the approach from last year as we are almost in the same situation, perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace, and the reaction of the team was very, very strong.

“We worked as a team, made small step by small step and we have to keep exactly the same approach, but for sure it is not ideal.”

With the double disqualification in China still fresh in the mind, Ferrari trail behind their rival teams in the Championship. In Grands Prix, Leclerc now has a fourth and an eighth-place finish to his name, while Hamilton has just a P7 and a P10.

Hamilton’s car was disqualified in China for a skid block infringement, a common problem if the car is run too low. Ride height has been a key component of getting the best out of these cars since the ground effect era began, and it is not the first time Ferrari have fallen foul of the rules.

But Vasseur was keen to dispel the rumours that the SF-25 car has a specific issue with running a lower ride height, and that this is what is costing the team those valuable last few tenths of a second.

“We all want to run the car lower, we would all have more downforce in the situation, for everybody but there is a limit," he explained. "The limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulations.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 06: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 — Hamilton managed to pick off Hadjar in the race, to rise to seventh at the flag

“We are all spending the weekend on where is the limit and where can we run the car a bit lower and then you are too low. It is the same for everybody and we all know with this type of car, performance is a lot linked to the ride height.

“It is true for us, it is true for everybody, it is true today but it was true for the last two years. We were disqualified in Austin in 2023 with Mercedes, because we were trying to reach the same point. It is not the characteristic of the car this year or the characteristic of the Ferrari, it is true for all the field.”

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Mclaren already have a big lead in the Teams’ Championship, with Ferrari down in fourth – 76 points behind the papaya cars already.

But Vasseur was not too disheartened by that fact, instead choosing again to draw on the experiences of last season as Ferrari hope that they might find some performance in Bahrain - a track they know well from pre-season testing.

“If last year we did a good step forward from the beginning of the season to the mid-season or whatever, it is not because we found a magic bullet, we would never find something on the car worth three or four tenths," he said.

“It’s because you are putting together an area with two or three others, the balance, the driver getting the best from the car. I think yesterday we were not very far away, but it was very difficult for us, but the same could be said for McLaren, it was very hard to put a lap together.

“If you look at Charles, he lost a tenth and a half in the last chicane, and then he lost one tenth in the first corner [in Qualifying]. It is not an excuse and I’m not trying to say we had the best car, but it is exactly the same for Piastri, and exactly the same for everybody.

"It was difficult to get the best from the car and we need to improve on the driveability we call it, to get the best from the package.”