Fred Vasseur was ‘nervous’ as major Ferrari suspension upgrade admission made

Jamie Woodhouse
Lewis Hamilton drives the Ferrari SF-25 at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton drives the Ferrari SF-25

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur cut a “nervous” figure when the team arrived at the Belgian Grand Prix.

That is because they came there with an important, long-awaited rear suspension upgrade. The results have been positive, but Vasseur admits that their SF-25 car has not been designed to run a rear suspension of its type.

Ferrari SF-25 not designed for this rear suspension

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

F1 2025 has not gone to plan for Ferrari. Having pushed McLaren all the way to a 2024 Constructors’ title-decider in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari had hoped to push on this season and mount a strong challenge for the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.

Instead, McLaren has established itself as the leading force, and with only 10 rounds of the season to go, Ferrari is still searching for a grand prix win.

For some time Ferrari had been anticipating the arrival of a rear suspension upgrade, and it debuted at Spa-Francorchamps. The results since have been positive, as Charles Leclerc made the podium at Spa before claiming his and Ferrari’s first pole position of the season in Hungary, stunning McLaren.

Leclerc was restricted to a fourth-place finish in the grand prix as a mystery chassis issue made its mark.

Vasseur is happy with the results of the upgrade, even if the Ferrari SF-25 is not optimised to run it.

“For us, it’s a step forward,” the Ferrari team boss declared to Auto Motor und Sport.

“I would have liked to have done it earlier. However, such major changes in the middle of the season are never as efficient as those planned from the outset.

“The price is higher weight, aerodynamic losses and changes in driving dynamics. We built our car for a different type of suspension.

“When we brought the new rear axle to Spa, I was already nervous. It was a sprint weekend. You have to try all the tyre compounds in a limited amount of time. That doesn’t leave much time for chassis set-up.

“In the end, it worked out quite well. We used the sprint as a test.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

While Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton is still struggling to truly spark his Ferrari career into life, he, like Vasseur, did feel a positive step with the rear suspension upgrade.

“Definitely some improvements that we’ve made on the upgrades,” he declared to media including PlanetF1.com following the Hungarian Grand Prix. “The guys have worked really hard.

“Actually, it’s a shame we’re not as competitive as the guys right at the front.

“But you’ve seen Charles just had a really strong run of the last two races. The car is definitely progressing, so we have to keep trying to extract more from it.”

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