Ferrari pushes forward. It refuses to accept the role of a third or fourth force on the grid. Antonio Giovinazzi is currently in Maranello to carry out a specific task. The Italian team is not satisfied with its performance in Japan, where it gave everything it had to secure fourth and seventh place at the finish line—too little, by Ferrari’s standards. That’s why they’re now working on updates ahead of the race in Bahrain.
Vasseur’s Hesitations About Updates
Team principal Frédéric Vasseur had previously tried to deflect questions regarding car development. The French manager from Draveil had even hinted at a possible temporary halt, arguing that a thorough data collection and analysis phase was essential before approving the first upgrade package. Proceeding without a clear direction would only raise the risk of mistakes.
We discussed this ten days ago: Ferrari cannot afford errors—even small flaws in the upgrade plan can be fatal. It’s crucial to stay on the right development path to make the car more competitive and avoid setbacks that could eliminate any championship hopes. Vasseur is aware of this and has discussed the matter with his fellow countryman, Loic Serra, Ferrari’s sporting director.
Ferrari Sticks to the Original Plan
Despite the season being long, the points gap from the leaders is already significant. As a result, the team headquartered at Via Abetone Inferiore 4 has decided to stick with the original development plan. Although Charles Leclerc has hinted that his impressions after arriving in Bahrain might differ from those during preseason testing, Ferrari is determined to push to the limit and leave no stone unturned.
Giovinazzi’s Role in Bahrain Preparation
During the recent Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, Antonio Giovinazzi was present as Ferrari’s third driver. As we know, the legendary Italian team has been working on a package of updates to address the issues both SF-25 cars have faced during the first three rounds of the championship—where things have not gone according to plan.
Giovinazzi took a direct flight to Bologna to head to Ferrari’s headquarters. His mission: to perform specific simulator work for the most successful team in Formula 1 history. Engineers have already updated the simulator with real-world data collected from Suzuka, in order to test the new features expected to be introduced in Sakhir in the coming days.
We’re talking about two full days of intense simulator sessions—a real deep dive into the new solutions. The goal is to validate, at least virtually, the innovations planned for Bahrain. Additionally, it’s about finalizing an effective base setup so that the team can hit the ground running at the track, without wasting time fine-tuning the car’s configuration.
Ferrari’s Target with Bahrain Updates
Ferrari needs to make a clear step forward. The SF-25 is suffering from serious balance issues, especially with understeer, which is heavily limiting the car’s performance. According to Ferrari’s engineers, this is costing the team around two-tenths per lap—a margin too large for a team that aims to win at least one of the two world titles, as declared before the start of the 2025 season.
Moreover, there’s a push to use a more advanced set of ride height settings. While the current ones are within the car’s design parameters, Ferrari believes there’s more performance to be extracted. The goal is to stabilize the downforce and make it more consistent, avoiding the instability that has hurt the cars in various driving conditions.
Leclerc and Hamilton’s Crucial Role
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton will once again be key figures in testing the new parts and factory-prescribed setups on track. Right now, McLaren has the fastest car, while Red Bull’s weekend execution, combined with Max Verstappen’s extraordinary talent, makes those two teams very difficult to beat.
In just three days, we’ll be back on track to see if Ferrari finally makes the long-awaited step forward.
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