The bold moves Ferrari needs to reclaim F1 championship glory in 2025
General
"Good one, but not enough." That was Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur's succinct conclusion on their 2024 season after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ferrari finished second in the Constructors’ Championship, just 14 points behind first-placed McLaren. Still, it was a significantly improved year for the Italians. Vasseur's team had placed third in 2023 with 406 points and just one victory. In 2024, they amassed 246 points more and secured five total victories—a clear sign of progress. With minor refinements, Ferrari could be poised to claim its first Constructors’ title since 2008 next season. However, this won’t come without serious challenges. This is what Ferrari needs to do to become 2025 constructors champions.
Ferrari must maximise Lewis Hamilton's performance
The seven-time world champion is set to make his highly anticipated move to Ferrari in 2025. After 12 seasons with Mercedes, Hamilton will step into an entirely different environment in Maranello. The 105-time Grand Prix winner is coming off a challenging season despite securing two wins, one at Silverstone and another at Spa. Overall, he finished seventh in the standings with 223 points. Hamilton struggled in qualifying throughout the year, managing to out-qualify teammate George Russell just five times.
A notable misstep came during qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where an unforced error likely cost him a potential race win. Despite this, he fought back on Sunday to claim second place behind Russell. In 2025, Hamilton will team up with Charles Leclerc, arguably one of the best one-lap drivers on the grid. To match his teammate, the soon-to-be 40-year-old will need to rediscover the qualifying prowess that earned him 104 career poles. For this to succeed, Ferrari must support him with a robust testing program ahead of his debut season. The transition won’t be without challenges, as Ferrari’s car will undoubtedly have characteristics distinct from the Mercedes machines Hamilton is used to.
Leclerc and Hamilton must not butt heads
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton must avoid unnecessary squabbles. The grid is too competitive for them to have accidents or clashes, as any mistakes will be quickly exploited. In 2024, McLaren frequently referred to the 'Papaya Rules', which played a key role in their championship success. While team orders are rarely popular, they may be crucial for Ferrari next season to maximise their points tally.
However, it remains uncertain whether there will be a clear hierarchy at Ferrari in 2025. During the four seasons Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were teammates, the pair largely operated as equals, though Leclerc always had a slight performance edge. In 2024, the Monegasque driver finished 66 points ahead of his Spanish teammate. While Hamilton wasn't as fast in 2024 as in previous years, a new car and environment could rejuvenate the Brit, who has shown on Sundays (Silverstone, Spa, Las Vegas) that he still has what it takes to win Grands Prix. How Ferrari manages their new driver pairing will be crucial to their success in 2025.
A step forward in reliability and consistency
The Scuderia must be more consistent in 2025. After all, consistency is key to world titles. Weekends like the Canadian Grand Prix, where both cars retired, mustn't happen in 2025. To win a title, the team must work as a well-oiled machine. If one driver strikes trouble, the other must take advantage. Even at the last race in 2024, Leclerc was forced to change his battery, meaning that he had a disappointing 10-place grid penalty in what was Ferrari's most important race of the year. Speaking in the paddock after the final race to GPblog and others, Vasseur explained how he's looking to improve all areas of the team.
"If you want to do a good job, you have to be focused on every single pillar of the performance, on every single area. On the reliability, it's true for every single part of the car. It means that we have to improve everywhere, but I don't want to make a list because if I start to make a list, I think I don't want to finger-point someone or a group, but I think on every single area and every single department of the company, we just have to do a better job. And this is not a criticism, it's just that it has to be the mindset of the team. We have to come each morning to try to do a better job than yesterday and to try to improve what we are doing, hundredths of seconds by hundredths of seconds. But this mindset is the DNA of our sport, and if we don't have it, we are dead."
Vasseur must deal with even more pressure and expectations
The former Sauber team principal has even more pressure on his shoulders in 2025. After such a solid year in 2024, Ferrari's management and fans will be expecting the Frenchman's team to put in a fight for the world title. The team invested heavily in Lewis Hamilton, and Vasseur has already expressed that next year's car will have 'One per cent of the parts in common with the 2024 car.' Their challenger, nicknamed 'Project 677', is a significant development push and not just a mere evolution of the SF-24.
It's difficult to suggest Ferrari will be the fastest car on the 2025 grid as of this moment. Without seeing the cars on track, no one will know whether or not Red Bull, McLaren or even Mercedes have managed to make a significant step forward, too. The Tifosi dream of a return to the top step, like the glory days of the early 2000s with Michael Schumacher at the helm. Next year's campaign promises to be one of high stakes and even higher hopes. It remains to be seen how the experienced, level-headed Vasseur will deal with the pressure.
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