Maranello's 2025 F1 Revolution: A New Era

Ferrari’s radical redesign of their 2025 F1 car sets the stage for a groundbreaking 2026 season, showcasing a strategic shift at Maranello.

Ferrari is expected to go beyond the anticipated changes for 2025 in preparation for the 2026 regulations.

Scuderia director Frédéric Vasseur, like Christian Horner and other paddock counterparts, recognises the increasing difficulty in gaining time with these ground-effect F1 cars under the regulations introduced in 2022.

“With the cost cap and current regulations, we need to manage both aspects, and we’ll bring improvements when we have something worthwhile,” he explains regarding upcoming developments for the SF-24.

“It’s important to note that there’s a convergence in performance, and the development pace is much slower than it was two years ago. This means that every time someone makes an improvement, and I believe this is true for us as well as everyone else, the gains are smaller than two years ago, and that’s normal.”

“Part of the team is working on the next developments we will see this season, and another part is already focused on next year’s car. We’ve already given the green light for the 2025 car.”

“Additionally, work began some time ago on the 2026 power unit. As for the chassis and aerodynamics, we can make some assumptions, but nothing more, given that there are no regulations yet.”

Regarding the 2025 F1 car, the early start was given because Ferrari might follow McLaren and Red Bull Racing by switching to a different front suspension philosophy: a pull-rod suspension instead of push-rod. This has an immediate advantage for next year, but it’s also a choice aimed at aligning with the 2026 regulations, which will retain ground-effect.

With this change in configuration, Ferrari will need to homologate a new chassis for 2025, while more teams in the paddock aim to save their budget and resources for 2026 by keeping the same chassis for 2025, the final year of the current rules.