Ferrari’s 2025 season so far, summed up in a word, would be underwhelming. Finishing just 14 points behind the Constructors’ champions McLaren last year, most expected them to compete for the 2025 title. Sadly, they are far away, and continue to chase the tag of being the third-fastest on the grid at the moment.
McLaren and Mercedes look to be comfortably clear of Ferrari’s pace at the moment, and although they’ve experienced some highs—Lewis Hamilton’s sprint race win in China—the F1 community and media in particular has criticized and questioned the Maranello-based team heavily. Frederic Vasseur’s leadership has also inder scrutiny in recent weeks.
As Friday practice went underway in Jeddah, the signs were, once again, grim for Ferrari. The pace did not appear to be too promising in FP1 or FP2, which would be a concern considering they had brought rear-wing upgrades to ease the difficulties its drivers had faced with driving.
A hot practice day finishes under the lights pic.twitter.com/hUdjqmKTqN
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 18, 2025
Vasseur was asked about the same in the press conference, and in reply, he simply asked for patience.
The Frenchman insisted that except for McLaren, no other team on the grid had it all together. “The tyres are very sensitive, and as soon as you make a mistake, you are doing a step back,” he said.
Vasseur further used Max Verstappen’s example to highlight that it’s difficult to maintain consistency at this stage of the season. He was talking about the Dutchman’s incredible Suzuka pole lap and win, following which he and Red Bull immediately had a horrific weekend in Bahrain where the RB21’s grip was all over the place and Verstappen could only finish in P6.
“That means we have to stay calm, and we have to stay calm on the conclusions. I think it’s true for us, but it’s true for everybody. If you look at Max, for example, he was flying in Japan, and the weekend after, he was struggling.”
“Today in F1, the pack is so tight that for small mistakes, you can lose five or six positions on the grid,” he added.
There’s still time for Ferrari to salvage the Saudi Arabian GP weekend, of course. Ahead of qualifying on Saturday they have another practice session to try things out. The upgrades they brought—a shorter chord rear wing flap, an offloaded top rear wing, and an offloaded single-element lower beam wing—could turn out to work in their favor with a little fine tuning.
That said, there are other teams who have also brought performance related upgrades to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which could nullify the gains Ferrari would’ve made.
