Led by Fred Vasseur, Scuderia Ferrari had a relatively disappointing weekend at the F1 Japanese GP as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished in P4 and P7 respectively with their SF-25 challangers.
On a positive note, both cars complied with the regulations on this occasion following disqualifications for both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the F1 Chinese GP two weeks earlier. Alpine driver Pierre Gasly also got disqualified.
During the F1 Japanese GP weekend, the seven-time World Champion explained after qualifying that “we [Ferrari] are running [the SF-25] higher than I would like but everyone is in the same boat in that respect, particularly after the last race, we’re a bit higher than we would want to be”.
China had looked so good for Scuderia Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton took F1 Sprint pole and the victory in the 19-lap contest itself across Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. It was his and Ferrari’s first win in a Sprint.
However, come Grand Prix qualifying and the race itself, they lacked the pace of McLaren in particular, crossing the line in P5 and P6 before both both SF-25 F1 cars got thrown out of the results.
Fred Vasseur: All F1 teams pushing the limits as Scuderia Ferrari do not run SF-25 higher than other cars
Asked in his F1 Japanese GP post-race print media session Scuderia Ferrari if the reason they are lacking pace and performance is because they have to run the SF-25 higher than would ideally like, Vasseur rubbished that suggestion.
He pointed to the fact all teams are on the absolute limit with their packages, and the Frenchman highlighted Mercedes’ disqualification along with Ferrari at Austin in 2023 as a sign of that.
Running the cars as low as possible in the ground effect era has been a key area for performance.
“For sure we all want to run the car lower and we all have more downforce in this situation, and for everybody it’s much better.
“But there is a limit, the limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulation. And we’re all spending the weekend to find where is the limit, can we run the car a bit lower, and then you are too low and it’s the same for everybody.
“And we all know that with this kind of car, performance is a lot linked to the ride height, and it’s true for us, it’s true for everybody, and it’s true today, but it was true the last two years.
“If we were disqualified in Austin 2023 with Mercedes, it was because we were trying to reach the same point, and it’s not a characteristic of the car of this year or the characteristic of the Ferrari, it’s true for all the field.”
