F1: Fred Vasseur finally admits, half-heartedly, that the Ferrari SF-25 is not performing well

Ferrari's 2025 F1 season is not taking off. After yet another disillusionment at Imola, where both cars were eliminated in Q2, the crisis seems to be setting in within the Scuderia. The team, which got off to a difficult start, didn't even reach the top 10 in qualifying, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ending up 11th and 12th on the grid respectively. And while team principal Fred Vasseur has been downplaying the situation for several weeks, he finally let slip a tacit admission that might speak volumes about the real reasons for this debacle.

A car with no real potential

Despite its promise on paper, the SF-25 is struggling to live up to expectations. If Leclerc's words after qualifying in Imola are anything to go by, the Monegasque is at a loss for words. "We're nowhere," he asserts, underlining a cruel lack of performance. Even when he does manage to get the most out of his car, he admits he doesn't have the means to perform miracles. And therein lies the rub: despite his best efforts, the car seems condemned to a limited level of performance.

Added to this is the tire situation, another weak point of the SF-25, which seems to be struggling to get its rubber up to temperature. A problem that Lewis Hamilton raised after suffering the same fate as his teammate, and which still contributes to the general annoyance in the Ferrari garage. "I'm disgusted, devastated," confided the seven-time world champion, visibly downcast by the situation.

Fred Vasseur: between apologies and half-confessions

Ferrari director Fred Vasseur recently revealed the true extent of the situation by naming Enrico Cardile, the former technical director, as the man responsible for the design of the SF-25. But he goes further. Vasseur, in a rare admission of sincerity, indicated that even with all the elements perfectly aligned, the SF-25 could not hope to do better than P5 and P6 positions, behind Mercedes and Mclaren.. It has to be said that these teams are now at the top of the hierarchy, but Ferrari must also be wary of surprises from Williams and Alpine, now formidable challengers.

The fact that Vasseur seems to be downplaying the situation in public does little to calm tempers. Qualifying at Imola was supposed to be a turning point for the team, but it turned out to be another blow. The SF-25, which already didn't seem to have exceptional potential, proved incapable of competing with the best cars on the circuit. Ferrari's goals of a return to the top with solid development by 2025 are now a long way off.

Repair rather than abandonment

However, Vasseur insists that it's not a question of giving up on the SF-25. On the contrary, he remains convinced that there's still more to come from it. "Too often, we finish weekends with the impression that we haven't got the most out of the car," he confides. Ferrari is counting on future developments, particularly at the Spanish Grand Prix, to rectify this situation.

But this situation is made all the more delicate by the fact that Loïc Serra, who arrived at Maranello in October 2024 as the new technical director, had only limited room for manoeuvre on the SF-25's design. He now has to repair a car he didn't design, while already preparing the next generation of Ferraris, due in 2026. A colossal task, in which every evolution will have to be carefully thought out, and patience will be the key.

In short, Ferrari is having a difficult season with the SF-25. The car's lack of performance is now an established fact. Fred Vasseur, while downplaying the situation, suggests that the Scuderia doesn't have the resources to compete with the top teams. The battle for the podium in 2025 now seems in jeopardy, and only the introduction of significant evolutions could enable Ferrari to regain a semblance of competitiveness. But for that to happen, the team will have to accept that the SF-25 is simply not up to the Scuderia's ambitions.