2025 Ferrari F1 car to feature key change Lewis Hamilton has been requesting from Mercedes for years
04/12/2024 18:45
While Scuderia Ferrari is busy preparing in Abu Dhabi for the final F1 race of the 2024 season, which will decide the Constructors’ title, with McLaren also in contention, the Racing Department is working full-time on the Ferrari 677, the 2025 single-seater being developed in Maranello for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
The SF-24 has won five GPs (three with Charles Leclerc and two with Carlos Sainz) and, after a mid-season slump caused by a Spanish Grand Prix update that failed to meet the technical team's expectations, has managed to re-enter the battle for the Constructors’ Championship up to the final race.
Engineers led by Loic Serra, the technical director who joined Maranello on October 1, are focusing all their attention on next year's red car. The Frenchman, formerly of Mercedes, has given full autonomy to the “Italian” team, which initiated the changes to the 677.
The SF-25 (?) will have nothing in common with the Ferrari concluding this season: it will be an entirely new single-seater designed to integrate all the knowledge Maranello has gained on ground-effect F1 cars before turning the page to focus on agile cars for the 2026 Formula 1 regulations.
The 677, as already mentioned, will feature a completely different concept: the chassis is currently in production. The cockpit will be moved further back, leading to the front wheels being farther from the radiator inlets.
This change (which Lewis Hamilton had been requesting from Mercedes for years…) aims to achieve a different mass distribution to meet the weight allocation mandated by the regulations. The new chassis will slightly shift the power unit backward, while the gearbox housing will inevitably have to be shorter to comply with the maximum wheelbase length.
Ferrari has also decided to switch to front pull-rod suspension, adopting a design used by Red Bull and McLaren. The transition from pushrod to pull-rod is primarily driven by aerodynamic considerations but requires a complete redesign of the front of the chassis. However, it appears that the steering arm will not be moved behind the triangle, as McLaren boldly did, to avoid introducing too many variables into an entirely new project.
During 2024, the Scuderia actively contributed to the development of the 2025 Pirelli tires, participating in tire development tests to create compounds less sensitive to overheating. Additionally, it considered changing the airflow management in corners: according to rumors, the new Ferrari planned to adopt a solution successfully used by Mercedes on the W15.
What is it? It is known as the reverse bell. The support bell for the carbon disc, appropriately designed with holes, allows air to pass through it, contributing to more efficient brake cooling. The Scuderia's system channels fresh air to the disc only from the inner side, encountering a challenge: the inability to completely seal the air near the bell, causing leaks that hinder perfect temperature control in a part of the basket that needs to remain cool.
The reverse bell aims to solve this issue by directing fresh air from the outside and shooting it toward the disc through the bell’s holes. However, this concept change requires Ferrari engineers to redesign all airflow pathways in the corner. Recent bench tests revealed that the solution (developed with Carbon Industrie discs) would not adapt to Brembo materials. Further tests are planned, but for now, the solution will not be implemented on the SF-25.
President John Elkann had hoped for Ferrari's return to the world title by 2026. Fred Vasseur fully intends to accelerate this timeline. This year, Ferrari is still in contention for the Constructors’ Championship, and next year, with the duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the goal is the Drivers’ title—without waiting for the new regulations.
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