Ferrari believes it. The global target is not set for 2026 when the new rules will come into force in F1. In Maranello there would be a desire to move forward. Charles Leclerc’s victory in Monte Carlo helps galvanize a team that has found an identity of views around its team principal. The transalpine has built a very cohesive staff in which everyone pulls from the same side, expressing a potential that for too long has remained hidden in the depths of Sports Management.
At Imola the French manager explained that the Scuderia’s programs proceed on three levels that travel in parallel, but at different times. It’s difficult to say from the outside what is priority. The feeling is that there is a lot of irons in the fire with differentiated objectives…
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Director, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
“As regards the percentage – explained Vasseur -, it is quite difficult to find a precise number. Part of the team is working on the next updates that we will see during this season, another is already focused on next year’s single-seater. We have already given the go-ahead to the 2025 car. Furthermore, work has already started some time ago on the 2026 power unit, while as regards the chassis and aerodynamics we can hypothesize some concepts and nothing more, given that there are no regulations yet ”.
The next aerodynamic package is scheduled for Silverstone (while it was initially scheduled in Hungary) and in the meantime we will see two more rear wings appear, after the high-load one that we saw debut in the Principality. We will already see a more downloadable version in Canada, while the intermediate version will appear in Spain.
These are the immediate plans, but Enrico Cardile has allocated a cell of engineers to the definition of the SF-25. At the beginning of the year it was said that next year’s red car would be a car derived from the SF-24, to divert most of the budget to the 2026 single-seater which will begin studying from January 1st with the contribution of Loic Serra, the former Mercedes, which will be operational in Maranello from October, but the truth that is emerging is another: Vasseur has given the OK to redo the bodywork next year.
The Cavallino technicians are convinced that they have fully understood how to make a ground effect single-seater work and are sure that it is necessary to work on the project to extract the maximum potential from this regulation.
Comparison between the Ferrari SF16 H which returned to push rod suspension and the SF15-T which was equipped with the pull rod which is being discussed again for 2025
Picture of: Giorgio Piola
The first news is that Ferrari, after years of stability, could switch to pull-rod front suspension, starting a work cycle on this topic which could also be preparatory to 2026. And after all, both the Red Bull RB20 and the McLaren MCL38 are already adopting this solution. This is not a new exercise for Maranello given that the SF15-T adopted the long strut rod in 2015. The need is not so much mechanical as aerodynamic, useful for making the flows destined for the Venturi channels work better.
But reversing the design of the front suspension requires that the chassis be redone since it requires new attachments to the body with the movement of the internal mechanisms towards the floor of the chassis, also gaining an advantage in lowering the weights on the front end.
Furthermore, according to rumours, the driver’s position would also be adjusted to the advantage of a remodeled weight distribution. This is the clearest sign that Ferrari has launched an ambitious plan that could lead it to fight for the Constructors’ title in 2024 and perhaps try to raise the threshold in 2025, when Charles Leclerc will be joined by Lewis Hamilton.
The Englishman would like to fight for the chance to become the first driver to win eight titles and knows that his time in F1 is destined to end soon so he will have to try to collect the maximum result as soon as possible. Ferrari, in short, seems ready to dig out its claws even while waiting for Adrian Newey to decide whether to accept the Cavallino’s offer or not…
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