A relatively underwhelming start to 2025 continues for Scuderia Ferrari under the leadership of Fred Vasseur as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished P4 in P7 respectively in the F1 Japanese GP. The Monegasque driver ended up 16s behind Max Verstappen at the end of the 53-lap race, with the Brit a further 13s back.
Vasseur: The F1 Japanese GP has given Ferrari a good indication of the work ahead
The SF-25 had its very stable weekend of the season in Japan. Big performance fluctuations in Melbourne and Shanghai left the F1 world wondering where Ferrari truly sat in the pecking order.
At Suzuka, Charles Leclerc had his best weekend of the season so far, and it has given Ferrari a good idea of how far they are off McLaren — and Red Bull when the RB21 when the car is in the operating window.
Speaking in his print media session, Vasseur believes Ferrari was missing 0.2-0.3s in qualifying and race trim at the F1 Japanese GP.
“I don’t think that we maximised, but I think it’s true for everybody, including the others. Probably they can find a potential there and there, except perhaps Max and the quali lap yesterday.
“But, on average, the picture is that we are two to three tenths behind the pole position yesterday and perhaps two to three tenths behind today. It’s a good picture and we have to work from there.”
Gains in many areas the key to catch up
While Ferrari was generally the second quickest team to Red Bull in early 2024 before McLaren changed the game with their Miami GP upgrade, they lacked a good 0.3-0.6s a lap to Max Verstappen in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan and China.
A floor update brought to the Spanish GP dropped them away from McLaren for a few rounds as the car started bouncing more. However, an upgrade package brought to Monza transformed the car and had great pace at pretty much every round from there, narrowly missing out on the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren in the end.
Vasseur says incremental gains will be key to Ferrari catching up again this year.
“No, no, if last year we did a good step forward from the beginning of the season, from mid-season or whatever, it’s not that we found a magic bullet.
“We never find something on the car at 3 or 4 tenths. Quite often when you improve it’s because you are putting together 10 areas with 200 or 300 hundredth of seconds, and you are putting everything together, you are improving on the balance, you are helping the driver to get the best from the car.
Not far away in qualifying
“I think honestly yesterday we were not that far away. It was very difficult for us, but I think probably the same for McLaren to put the lap together. If you have a look at the lap of Charles, he lost a tenth and a half in the last chicane, and then he lost 1 tenth in the first corner.
“But I think it’s not an excuse, I’m not trying to say that we have the best car at all, because I think it’s exactly the same for Piastri, and exactly the same for everybody.
“When you are reaching a point it’s quite difficult to get the best of the car, and we have also to improve on this, on the drivability, let’s call it, to get the best from the potential.”
When can Ferrari overcome that deficit to become regular contenders again?
Pushed on when he expects Ferrari to make up the gap to McLaren and Red Bull in the upcoming races, the French team boss has vowed that they will retain the same approach as 2024.
Vasseur was happier Ferrari executed a better weekend at the F1 Japanese GP after the embarrassment of having both cars disqualified following the Chinese Grand Prix.
“I didn’t spend the winter to have expectations on race one. I’m just going to Australia to race and to try to get the best from what we have. We had exactly the same approach last year, we were able to come back.
“The first couple of races, we were six tenths off on average, and we were able to come back during the season. It means that we need to keep the same approach, it doesn’t matter the gap, it doesn’t matter the results of today.
“We need to try to do a better job next week to improve the potential and also the extraction of the potential of the car, and we have to improve everywhere, at least together.
“We did a step forward compared to last Sunday, at least on the operation[al side], and we have to start from there, but it’s not the ideal as the start of the season for sure, but it’s still a long one to go, there’s still 21 [rounds] to go.
No problem keeping Ferrari F1 team focused — Vasseur
After missing out on the Constructors’ Championship by 14 points to McLaren at the end of 2024, many expected Ferrari to start the season very strongly as Lewis Hamilton joined Charles Leclerc to form quite possibly the strongest lineup on the grid.
Searching for a first championship since 2008, it has been a disappointing start. They are a whopping 76 points behind McLaren already, and sit a distant P4 in the standings.
Vasseur, however, says there is no concerns about maintaining focus at Ferrari after this start to the 2025 F1 campaign.
“I’m amused because the last two years we started like this.
“For sure it’s not ideal, and I would prefer to win the first one than to finish P5, this is clear.
“But on the other hand, we don’t have to change the approach compared to last year. One year ago we were almost in the same situation, perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace, and the reaction of the team was very strong.
“We worked as a team, we made small step by small step, and we have to keep exactly the same approach.
“But for sure it’s not ideal, and I would prefer to win the first two or first three.”
