Frederic Vasseur made it clear that the SF-25 isn’t a revolution of its predecessor however moderately an evolution, primarily as a result of the small margins in final yr’s championship confirmed that it was pointless to utterly change the automotive, however moderately to give attention to key areas.
Nonetheless, this doesn’t imply that Maranello’s newest creation doesn’t signify a transparent break from the earlier season’s automotive, as some modifications are extra vital than they might seem.
Though the SF-24 ended the yr on an upward trajectory and fought for the Constructors’ Championship title till the ultimate race, it had reached its peak evolution. As typically occurs, extra substantial modifications have been wanted to unlock additional potential. Such interventions are typically postponed to the event of the next yr’s automotive, particularly in the event that they contain the chassis or vital modifications to the suspension system.
This was additionally the case for the SF-25 venture, whose improvement, not less than in its embryonic part, started final March, nicely prematurely of the tip of final season. Nonetheless, it advanced in parallel with the 2024 single-seater to grasp which areas required essentially the most radical interventions to unlock extra efficiency in 2025.
The improvements open new improvement paths
Talking on the sidelines of the filming day of the brand new automotive, throughout which the SF-25 accomplished its first kilometers, technical director Loic Serra emphasised this facet and the way sure modifications, even seemingly minor ones, have been made particularly to transcend the boundaries of its predecessor.
“The work on the SF-25 started in March of final yr, so by way of improvement, it’s a development of the SF-24. It is because I solely arrived at Ferrari in October when all the selections had already been made. However we must always not assume that every part was finalized as early as September as a result of this can be a steady course of that lasts all through your entire season,” Loic Serra defined in a latest interview for the Italian media after the official reveal of the brand new Ferrari Method 1 automotive for the 2025 championship.
“On the whole, the method is to search out room for enchancment in improvement. All of this had grow to be unattainable with the SF-24. We primarily needed to make sense of it by optimizing what we already had.”
“For the reason that technical rules have reached their ultimate yr, with these vehicles, every part is predicated on particulars. We centered on the entrance suspension, however that’s solely essentially the most seen a part of the tip of the iceberg. Many of the automotive is new, and it’s not essentially one thing that may be seen with the bare eye from the skin, however these are exactly the elements which have the best affect,” added Loic Serra.
There are additionally many much less eye-catching however essential features, such because the redesign of the gearbox and the modification of the wheelbase—modifications that go hand in hand with quite a few interventions aimed toward unlocking potential even within the medium-to-long time period. The swap to the pull-rod structure on the entrance is essentially the most simply noticeable innovation, however modifying the suspension structure and repositioning the elements additionally means rethinking airflow administration alongside the bodywork, opening up new improvement paths that had reached their restrict with the SF-24.
The event of the SF-25 was designed on two fronts
Ferrari’s engineers have due to this fact labored on two fronts. Some interventions have been aimed extra at delivering quick efficiency, in order that, not less than within the engineers’ hopes, the 2025 venture might be aggressive proper from the beginning of the yr with out having to chase rivals.
Different modifications, however, function a kind of groundwork for the medium time period, anticipating the updates that can arrive within the early a part of the championship. “The principle goal with the SF-25 was to create room to push aerodynamic improvement, but additionally, extra typically, for the updates that can come all through the season. The SF-24 ended the season very nicely, however it had grow to be unattainable to search out additional margin for efficiency enhancements.”
It’s not uncommon for sure winter modifications to be aimed extra at unlocking efficiency within the medium time period moderately than instantly, and it’s no coincidence that Frederic Vasseur has defined how this yr’s improvement program might be versatile.
There might be a much less steep studying curve
Twelve months in the past, Ferrari was in a very completely different state of affairs from the present one. In 2023, it determined to desert the idea that debuted with the F1-75, shifting in direction of options utilized by its rivals, with a definitive transition to a special philosophy that materialized with the SF-24.
This clearly required a interval of understanding the venture to raised grasp its functioning, in addition to its strengths and limitations. Quite the opposite, though there are vital modifications this yr, such because the swap to the pull-rod suspension, the idea of the SF-25 has remained similar to that of its predecessor.
It will make the educational curve much less steep than previously: “Though the automotive has modified rather a lot, it’s a continuation of its predecessor. We have now modified many inside elements, however the philosophy stays the identical. We hope that the event margin will give us that additional increase in comparison with final yr.”
Particulars could make the distinction, beginning with the tires
Clearly, the Frenchman solely joined Ferrari as technical director final October, so many key venture selections have been really made by different engineers. Nonetheless, this doesn’t imply that Serra can’t contribute as early as 2025 and never only for 2026.
In his earlier experiences, Serra was thought of a tire specialist, and this is without doubt one of the areas the place Ferrari, like different groups, can nonetheless extract potential, notably in qualifying, the place final yr it struggled to get the tires into the best working window.
In latest weeks, we now have mentioned how some modifications adopted with the SF-25, notably within the suspension space, have been designed to handle a few of the weaknesses of its predecessor. This isn’t simply concerning the entrance pull-rod suspension, which was chosen primarily for aerodynamic causes, however extra importantly concerning the inside elements that make it up, such because the torsion bars and dampers, in an effort to maximise the efficiency of the Pirelli tires.
The SF-24 was a automotive that was light on its tires within the race, able to making them final a very long time, however to grow to be an all-around aggressive automotive, it wanted to make progress in single-lap efficiency by bettering tire administration. Reaching this steadiness is actually not easy, however it was one of many key strengths of the McLaren MCL38. Among the modifications on the SF-25 are aimed exactly on this course.
Loic Serra himself is satisfied that, as an skilled in car dynamics, there’s nonetheless rather a lot to extract from the tires, particularly contemplating that with such a tightly packed grid, as is predicted for many groups, each fraction of a second might make a major distinction in positioning and race prospects.
“If we take into consideration final yr’s grid, the automotive forward of us was about 30 milliseconds quicker. Based mostly on that, each single millisecond we are able to discover aerodynamically, within the suspension system, or, most significantly, in tire administration, actually makes an enormous distinction. In qualifying, the tires can provide extra.”
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