2025 Ferrari F1 car and livery launch: SF-25 on track for the first time

The season began strongly, as Charles Leclerc finished inside the top five finishers through the first eight races of the year and scored an emotional home win in Monte Carlo. Carlos Sainz delivered near-identical results: finishing inside the top five in seven races (only missing out in Saudi Arabia due to appendicitis) and leading a 1-2 victory in Australia.

But in Canada, the season was quickly turned on its head. A double DNF saw the Scuderia walk away from the race weekend without a single point, while McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes all scored heavily.

While Sainz was able to slightly recover from the stumble over the next three race weekends — finishing sixth in Spain, third in Austria and fifth at Silverstone — Leclerc was plagued with misfortune and scored just 12 points over the same period.

This effectively put a long-awaited drivers’ title out of reach for the Monegasque and, in hindsight, it also severely affected Ferrari’s chances in the constructors’ too.

Despite the fact that from the Hungarian GP onward, Leclerc would finish every race no lower than fifth (while also scoring wins at Monza and COTA) and Sainz would finish all but two races no lower than seventh (while also scoring a win in Mexico City), Ferrari were unable to make up the gap to McLaren in the team title race — eventually falling short by just 14 points.

It was a rollercoaster season, but it did show glimpses of title-contending hope.

“It’s been a season that, emotionally speaking, was really contrasting,” Leclerc told The Race. “Because I’ve had the two wins that I always dream of, which is Monaco and Monza. But at the same time, we went through a time where we had to experience things with the set-up. And we went through very tricky parts with the car where it was very difficult to drive, that pushed us to not optimise our weekend.

“It was difficult to then come back to our form. So, when you look back at the season, there were highs and lows – but the highs were very high and the lows were very low.”

2025: Is Ferrari finally title-ready? 

In 2025, Ferrari will be aiming to contend for both world titles. Its odds arguably look better than ever, with the dominance of Red Bull now diminished and the performance of the SF-24 providing a solid foundation on which to build.

The arrival of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes could also help, but the seven-time world champion’s performance in his final season for the Brackley outfit did raise some concerned eyebrows.

He was out-qualified by team-mate George Russell 24-6 in all events, finished 22 points behind the Briton in the drivers’ standings, and even threatened to leave the team early after a particularly bad weekend in Brazil.

His struggles led some to suggest that Hamilton had ‘lost it’. However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur doesn’t share the same opinion and is “not worried” about the Briton.

“Honestly, I think that he had a tough moment in quali, but also he had… I don’t think that the quali of Abu Dhabi, for example, was linked to the performance of Lewis,” Vasseur said.. “He had very good races in Vegas, in Abu Dhabi and I was never – really, never, never, never – worried about the situation.

“I’m really convinced that this situation [Hamilton leaving Mercedes], and I don’t want to blame Lewis or Mercedes, but this situation, it’s not easy to manage and I can understand that if it’s not going very well, you can suffer of this relationship.

“It was not [sitting] very well in his mind — he was clear in Brazil about this, for example — but he also did very, very well in the last couple of events. I’m not worried at all.”

Its yet to be seen how Leclerc will fare against Hamilton, who has a history of crushing team-mates — when he has the right machinery underneath him. But Leclerc’s red-hot form to end 2024 — four podiums in the last six races — suggests that Hamilton might be the one initially playing catch up.

Ferrari 2025 F1 driver line-up

Charles Leclerc	Lewis Hamilton

Key personnel

Team Principal and General Manager: Frédéric Vasseur

First appearing in the F1 paddock in 2016, acting as team principal for Renault, Vasseur has spent the majority of his career managing the midfield. But a move to the Sauber Group in 2017 to become its managing director as well as its team principal is a true indicator of the value he can hold.

As team principal, he oversaw the development and meteoric rise of Charles Leclerc, who made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2018 before being promoted to Ferrari the following year. He also played a key role in the young career of Lewis Hamilton, acting as his team principal in GP2.

The Frenchman had had a working relationship with Ferrari since 2019, when Alfa Romeo Racing began running Ferrari power units in its F1 cars and so was an obvious candidate to replace Mattia Binotto who resigned from his post at the end of the 2022 season.

The 2024 campaign was the first full-season under Vasseur management, and the Scuderia made significant improvements across the board — putting a title challenge well within reach for 2025.

Head of Power Unit Area: Enrico Gualtieri 

Engine reliability was a sore point for Ferrari in 2022, causing retirements in Spain, Azerbaijan and Austria during the early stages of its title campaign, and forcing the team to limit the power unit’s output.

But it’s an issue that has since been resolved, with no engine-based retirements in 2024, courtesy of Enrico Gualtieri, who has headed Ferrari’s power unit area since 2019.

The Italian has been a major part of F1’s most successful constructor since 2010, when he was appointed Head of Engine reliability — experience he has since put to good use. If Ferrari want to content for another world title, Gualtieri will be a significant contributor.

Technical Director Chassis: Loic Serra

Loic Serra is one of the F1 paddock’s most experienced figures, having first began working on research and development at Michelin — the world championships tyre provider — from 2003 to 2006.

He then joined the BMW Sauber F1 team to become the Head of Vehicle Performance. Over a four year period, the team gradually became regular podium contenders and finished second in the constructors’ standings in 2007 and third in 2008.

In 2010, Serra joined the newly established Mercedes F1 team, where he worked in various departments, overseeing tyre, suspension, aerodynamic and power unit departments to ensure all work cohesively and combine to create a fast and reliable package.

His work ultimately paid off to the tune of eight consecutive constructors’ titles and seven straight drivers’ titles with the Brackley outfit — all the while working closely with Hamilton.

The pair will be reunited in 2024, as in May, it was announced that Serra would join the Scuderia on October 1 as its new Technical Director Chassis.