Ferrari: broken promises or just a difficult start?
- Anna Botton
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Written by Anna Botton, Edited by Gabriel Tsui
If someone, at the event in Milan, had prophesied that after just three races of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship, Ferrari would be fourth in the Constructors' Championship with only 35 points – a staggering 76 behind McLaren, 40 behind Mercedes, and 26 behind Red Bull (which, moreover, is racing with just one driver) – they would probably have been deemed mad. Yet, this is precisely the harsh reality facing the Scuderia from Maranello.
The early stages of the season have brought the prancing horse back into the spotlight – and under scrutiny – as it seemed poised to return as a protagonist after a winter full of expectations.
Pre-season testing had suggested something quite different. But is it really just the car that is disappointing, or is there something deeper that isn't working?
A Start Between Light and Shadows
After the initial three race weekends of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship, Scuderia Ferrari HP’s season appears as a contrasting mix of encouraging signs and clear limitations.
Despite some progress compared to recent years, the reality is that Ferrari is still far from the goals declared at the beginning of the season: to win and fight consistently for the title.
Expectations were high, fuelled by a winter of promises and ambitious statements, but the results on track have traced a less exciting trajectory.
Melbourne: The Shipwreck in the Australian Roulette
The season debut in Melbourne was anything but positive. Ferrari scored only 5 points, with Leclerc finishing eighth and Hamilton tenth. It was a chaotic race, marked by intermittent rain and questionable strategic choices. Leclerc was clear in his post-race analysis:
"The spin was my mistake, but we also got the timing wrong for the intermediates. We need to understand how to react better in situations like that."
The final result – behind McLaren, Red Bull, Williams, Aston Martin, and even the Sauber driven by Hulkenberg – brought back memories of past ghosts and recalled disastrous races such as Monaco 2022.
China: A Sprint Victory, But the Gap Remains
The Shanghai weekend, however, seemed to show some signs of recovery. Lewis Hamilton claimed the Sprint – his first personal win in this format – while also giving the Scuderia its first victory in a short race.
However, the Sunday race told a different story, as Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively, never truly challenging the Red Bull or McLaren leadership.
And, to make matters worse, both drivers were disqualified post-race for infractions with their SF-25s. A zero that could have been a black hole for Ferrari, they had to bounce back in Japan.
Suzuka: The Best Result of the Season, but the Podium is Still Far Away
At Suzuka, Ferrari ended the weekend with a fourth-place finish for Leclerc and a seventh for Hamilton. It was the best result of the season in terms of points, but not enough to change the general perception: the Scuderia is still not ready to win.
The Japanese race, dry and straightforward from a strategic standpoint, highlighted a good race pace but also chronic limitations in tyre management and aerodynamic balance. Two or three tenths per lap continue to make the difference between fighting for the podium and remaining stuck in the midfield.
The problem is evident. Ferrari continues to race defensively, focusing more on limiting damage than on attacking. A passive mentality that clashes with the history and identity of the Prancing Horse.
High expectations or excessive media pressure? The real crux of the matter
The debate surrounding Ferrari's difficult start to the season revolves around a fundamental question: how much have excessive expectations and media pressure weighed so far, in comparison to the actual technical limitations of the SF-25?
The answer is probably somewhere in between.
What is certain, is that the atmosphere surrounding the Scuderia has been charged from the very beginning with an overwhelming, almost euphoric enthusiasm, which ended up clouding objectivity.
The arrival of Lewis Hamilton in 2025 reignited a collective passion and generated a messianic wave of optimism. Newspapers and social media spoke of a "year of rebirth," of a team finally ready to fight for the title.
But Formula 1 is not a discipline prone to miracles — it is a long marathon, consisting of constant developments, incremental progress, and resilience. Instead, in Maranello, there was a sense of "everything now," which risked turning into disappointment quickly. Or at least, that’s what we are led to believe.
The press, both Italian and international, contributed to raising the bar of expectations. Every race weekend has thus become a trial by fire, where even a simple strategic error or unclear team radio communication is enlarged and analysed under a microscope.
The media ecosystem, fueled by memes, sensationalist headlines, and ruthless analysis, can become toxic even for an entity that has always lived with the weight of its history. In such an emotional environment as Ferrari's, passion can become a double-edged sword, capable of both driving the team forward and magnifying frustrations and controversies.
As Leo Turrini wrote in Il Resto del Carlino, "The SF-25 was born badly despite vaguely messianic expectations… and it shows." The reality, confirmed by a track like Suzuka, has brought everyone back to earth. Despite the hopes raised during the winter, the car proved fragile and uncompetitive, leaving Frédéric Vasseur with the challenging task of finding solutions during a critical moment of his management.
Daniele Sparisci of Il Corriere della Sera did not mince words: "Eighteen points, a fourth and a seventh place: this is Ferrari's best result in a season that started with the aim of winning everything."
The Japanese Grand Prix exposed the car's limitations, limitations that winter testing and the Melbourne weekend had only partially revealed.
The disqualification in Shanghai then acted as a dividing line, accelerating a disillusionment that was already simmering. As journalist Sparisci points out, the three-tenth gap per lap is not insurmountable, but it is still alarming.
Nevertheless, Vasseur continues to maintain a steady approach: "I didn’t spend the winter imagining the first race. Like in 2024, our goal remains to maximise the available package.
Last year, we were six-tenths behind in the initial phase, but then we improved. That’s why our attitude must remain unchanged: the real problem is not the gap, but how we deal with it."
The Crucial Role of Internal and External Communication
At this delicate stage, the team's communication plays a decisive role. Frederic Vasseur has brought with him a more pragmatic style, far removed from the effect-laden promises to which fans were often accustomed in the past.
However, his transparency does not always translate into a consistent management of expectations. Phrases like “it takes time” or “we trust the project” are hard to swallow, especially for a fanbase that has been waiting for a world title for nearly twenty years.
To make matters worse, there are often contradictory statements from key figures within the team. Leclerc speaks of a car pushed to its maximum in Japan, with no room for improvement. Hamilton leaks news of a new floor for Bahrain. And Vasseur?
He states that “updates are frozen until we know how to extract more potential.” The result? Confusion. In one fell swoop, both drivers are contradicted. It’s implied that the situation is even worse than expected, and a harmful communication short-circuit is triggered that affects the team’s very image.
To further complicate the situation, they assured that the correlation between data from the factory and track performance is functioning perfectly.
But if everything adds up on paper and in the simulators, why does the car struggle to keep up with the competition on the track? Why, in the face of an organisation that claims to be solid and well-calibrated, does the performance of the SF-25 continue to disappoint?
These are the questions that fans – and not only them – are asking. Because this is where the link between trust and reality breaks: when reassurances are not followed by results, when communication seems disconnected from the present, and when it feels as though a reassuring narrative is preferred over facing problems head-on.
In this sense, perhaps more honesty, clarity, and above all, a more balanced communication approach between what is hoped for and what is actually the case, would be needed. In the end, fans don’t need slogans. They need credibility.
Ferrari, balance is needed
The crucial point, more than deciding whether Ferrari is disappointing or not, concerns the way public opinion influences the perception of its performance.
The SF-25 is not a car to be dismissed as a failure; it is competitive, has shown it can fight at the top, and with development and consistency, it can aim for more ambitious goals. However, the real limitation seems to be cultural rather than technical.
To build a winning team, it’s not enough to have a fast car. A capable environment is needed, one that can withstand pressure, protect the work of the engineers and drivers, and manage external communication intelligently.
Ferrari needs continuity and strategic vision, not the performance anxiety that often surrounds it. It is essential to cool down the emotional climate and stop swinging between enthusiasm and disillusionment after each race.
Winning in Formula 1 also means dominating the narrative. It means knowing how to manage expectations, contain premature criticism, and set a sustainable growth path.
It is from this perspective that the Scuderia still needs to make a leap in quality, learning how to build a winning cycle not only with speed on track, but also with mental strength off it.
The season, although it started with a few stumbles, is far from compromised. Last year showed that there are opportunities for recovery, but only if the direction to follow is clear.
Perhaps this represents the most significant crossroads today: deciding how to approach the future. Beyond the debates about Leclerc or Hamilton, what really matters is the consistency of the project and trust in the chosen method to carry it forward.
The Bahrain weekend, with the test data already acquired and the first developments of the SF-25, represents an important testing ground. Not so much to seek immediate results, but to understand the real potential of a car that has so far alternated between encouraging signals and structural limitations.
Sakhir will mark the line between a possible recovery and a compromised season. Ferrari is still in control of its destiny, but it can no longer afford to make mistakes.
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