Ferrari ‘rushing upgrades through’ amid fundamental design flaw talk

Ferrari are “rushing upgrades through” at the Bahrain Grand Prix in a bid to turnaround their dire start to the 2025 F1 season.

It has been a hugely underwhelming and disappointing start to the campaign for Ferrari, who are fourth in the constructors’ championship and 76 points behind McLaren after just three races.

Ferrari have lagged behind their rivals and bar taking pole position and winning the China sprint race courtesy of Lewis Hamilton, a distant fourth place finish from Charles Leclerc in Japan has been the team’s best result.

F1’s most famous team are set to introduce a key floor upgrade in Bahrain this weekend in a bid to save their season.

According to Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft, the upgrade package was originally scheduled for next month’s Miami Grand Prix and has been fast-tracked.

“On the face of it, Ferrari have a car that works very well when it’s a third full of fuel,” Croft told Sky Sports News.

“They won they sprint with Lewis Hamilton and they won it convincingly, and he qualified very well on a track that he has qualified very well on in the past as well.

“Is there a fundamental design flaw? We’ll start to see evidence for or against this week because Ferrari will be bringing upgrades to the track, rushing upgrades through, that maybe were designed for Miami.

“But with that being a sprint weekend, it’s very difficult because of the limited practice time, to really dial in the set-up changes you need with these upgrades.

“So they’ve been rushed through and on the face of it, there is something wrong with that car which stops Ferrari being able to run it low enough on full fuel so that they don’t excessively wear the planks and the skid blocks, which is why Lewis Hamilton got disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix.

“We’ll find out. I don’t know the answer to that and Ferrari are keeping tight-lipped, as you can understand, but the evidence will be on the track, on a race track which is different to Japan.

“It’s rear-limited rather than the front tyres but where Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have both enjoyed success in the past.”

What is wrong with Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car?

Ferrari made a significant concept change to their car over the winter, switching to a pull-rod front suspension layout in a bid to find performance gains following their narrow constructors’ championship defeat to McLaren in 2024.

There has been speculation in the paddock since the start of the season that Ferrari have a ride height issue with their 2025 challenger.

Ferrari have remained tight-lipped about the rumoured issue, but are widely believed to be unable to run their car at an optimum ride height, costing them crucial downforce and lap time.

Both Hamilton and Leclerc hinted at issues with the SF25 and admitted they are pinning their hopes on planned upgrades.

"We found something on the car that was underperforming for the last three races so I am hoping when that is fixed that I will start getting better results,” Hamilton said in Japan.

“I'm losing just over a tenth a lap with this issue we have. I'm hoping by the next race it's fixed."