After the SF-25’s presentation, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took to the track at Fiorano for their first filming day with the 2025 car. On this landmark occasion, team principal Fred Vasseur also made some declarations.
“Choice between 2025 and 2026? We’ll see the situation after a few races”
It is the last year before the change of technical regulations. Teams are divided between those who continue development on the 2025 car, and those who will focus on 2026.
“It is a gamble for everyone – it is true that we are in the last year of the regulation,” says Vasseur.
“It is useful for everyone that at some point you will have to make a choice between 2026 and 2025. But I think the main factor in the choice will be the situation in the championship.”
“The current 2025 car is the extension of 2024. We are all in the same situation, regardless of whether it is a bigger change on the car or not.
“But in the end it is always the extension of the previous one. So it is more [about monitoring] the situation after four or five races.
“We will dictate the situation and the choice between 25 and 26. Because we all know that you have a little time for everything .”
Focusing on this year, there are 24 races to contest – which can change a lot, especially in a competitive field. Therefore, it will be important for Ferrari to be proactive to the season’s demands:
“Certainly if we have to react, we cannot react after June, for example. Because we know that the lead time is quite important for the big teams and probably that in the summer we will all be focused on 2026,” explains Vasseur.
“If you look at the previous regulation change, at the end of 21, when there was the fight between Mercedes and Red Bull, they were able to bring an update on the last two events. [They were] thinking about them before September, because after that it doesn’t make sense.”
Ferrari will adapt their approach as the year progresses:
“Let’s see, even if you have a plan and you decide now to do things in a certain way, you have to see after a few races of the championship where you are.
“If you are one second behind, there is no point in continuing to develop. If you are 17 seconds ahead, you can focus a little more on 2026.
“But I think these two scenarios are not realistic at all. I think it will be the continuity of last year with four teams capable of winning races, capable of winning the championship, and it will be a good battle.”
“The Technical Directive is not a problem”
Last month, the FIA made official a new Technical Directive to address flexi-wings. This will come into force from the Spanish Grand Prix. Ferrari is among the teams who are unaffected by this change:
“For me it is not a problem. I think it is good to have clarity.
“The most important thing for me is to know that we have to change something.
“On the front wing by Barcelona, for example, we can discuss the timing because it is the week after Monaco and we have to come to Monaco with a complete package.
“But in the end it is good for us. It is good for development and planning to know when we have to bring something.”
He continued:
“The worst case scenario would be to start the season as we are today and then, after two races, have to receive a technical directive that forces us to change something. Because it would be much more difficult to manage, and in that case it would be a disaster.
“But honestly, we all know the situation. We already knew that we would have to bring an update to the front wing during the season and this way we know that we will have to do it by Barcelona.”
“In 2024 we reacted well to the difficulties, but we must reduce the lost opportunities”
Looking back at last year’s championship, Ferrari reacted well to their mid-season slump. Despite clear slumps, they managed to fight until the last round for the Championship.
This year the expectations are high, especially when you have a driver of Hamilton’s calibre in the team:
“It’s not because we have thousands of fans that he will be world champion. If you want to win races, you have to have a good car and improve every single race and do the job.
“It’s not a question of the fans’ enthusiasm, whatever that is,” says a categorical Vasseur.
“But honestly, I think last year we did it quite well. We were also able to react in the difficult moment when we had a difficult path in June, July, [so] that we were able to come back quickly to change our approach, to react as a team, to work as a team.
“And that was a good momentum for us and a good sign for the development of the team. And we quickly got back to fighting.”
For the 2025 season, Ferrari are working on the foundations. Fred Vasseur is adamant that there is time to find in every area:
“We have to work on this basis. Certainly if we want to be champions and carry forward the objective, we have to improve everywhere and minimise any missed opportunities.
“We have to avoid having this kind of problems during the season that we had last year – and we have to do a better job everywhere.
“But we are all aware of it, we are all focused on this and I take the enthusiasm of the fans as a huge support and a huge energy.”
“It’s difficult to make predictions about 2025”
After a season where three teams fought for the race wins, it is difficult to predict who will dominate the championship:
“Last year was a very good season for everyone in general because in the first part of the season there was Red Bull, then it was us. Then McLaren and Mercedes, then we came back and it was like that for the whole season,” explains Vasseur.
“It means it is very, very difficult to predict who will lead the pack this season and if anyone will lead the pack .
“We fought until the last corner of the season with McLaren and we have to build the 2025 season on 2024. ”
Looking ahead to 2025, Ferrari will continue to aim high:
“But we will not change the approach, because we have done well or not in the last 12 races out of 24.
“We have to push to continue to develop the car, to continue to improve in every single pillar of performance in the team, in every single department. That is the approach, and the mood is good .”
McLaren have already planned updates. Team principal Andrea Stella says they will be there in the first races of the season. Ferrari will also bring improvements in the first races.
“If we have to develop the current car, we will do it in the first two races and then I think everyone will do it,” Vasseur confirmed.
“I don’t want to say that we will stop the current car, but we will be more focused on 2026.
“It means that the first races and the first update that we will bring to the car will be crucial for the season. And for sure we will bring something in the initial phase of the season.”
