From Bahrain to Bahrain. This weekend, F1 is about to come back full circle, holding the fourth Grand Prix of 2025 in Bahrain, on the identical monitor the place winter testing occurred. Since then, there have been three races—on road circuits, quick tracks, and technical layouts. Briefly, all doable situations have been lined: a different and helpful combine to get a transparent image of the pecking order. A adverse image for Ferrari which, after three race weekends, has clearly proven it’s removed from quick, nowhere close to the front-runners, nor in competition for poles or victories. Quite the opposite, the SF-25 fluctuates between being the third or fourth-best automobile on the grid. There’s no use beating across the bush: after the winter hype, the much-anticipated solutions from the monitor have been disappointing for the Prancing Horse, and the Japanese GP confirmed past cheap doubt that the anticipated top-level efficiency is at the moment out of Ferrari’s attain.
A lot work to do…
The SF-25 struggles and has proven a weak correlation between simulations and on-track efficiency. In Suzuka, as in Melbourne and Shanghai, Ferrari upset as soon as once more, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ending fourth and seventh in Mie, coping with a automobile that’s inconsistent however above all uncompetitive in varied eventualities—considerably slower than McLaren, Purple Bull, and Mercedes (regardless of Leclerc’s try and make up for it). And to make issues worse, it’s a automobile that’s arduous to know and function. That is an unacceptable scenario for a crew with championship ambitions, one Ferrari should exit as quickly as doable—by persevering with to fine-tune the automobile (to unlock unexpressed potential) and accelerating improvement to widen its working window and improve its efficiency. Updates, significantly to the ground and different areas, are anticipated as quickly as subsequent weekend in Sakhir.
Fred Vasseur, between rumors and stress: Leo Turrini speaks
This can be a second of nice disappointment and dismay for Ferrari, which is struggling to come back to phrases with this unexpectedly advanced image and is working to get well—one thing Leo Turrini commented on in his weblog “Profondo Rosso”, particularly in mild of latest statements by Ferrari crew principal Fréd Vasseur. The Frenchman admitted that Bahrain presents an opportunity to measure progress since testing, in addition to a possibility to take steps ahead in optimizing the automobile’s steadiness and managing each element of the weekend.
“The Sakhir occasion has, bitterly, the flavour of yet one more remaining examination. I received’t dwell on the industrial-scale amount of rumors circulating behind the scenes: whether or not true or not, they’re the results of a frankly embarrassing begin to the season. Slightly, if you understand how to learn between the traces, what’s attention-grabbing is the message despatched to the world by the nation parish priest. Fred Vasseur—no use denying it—resides by means of probably the most delicate second since changing Mattia Binotto. And he is aware of it completely properly.”