Ferrari’s 2025 contender, the SF-25, has completed its first laps, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton completing a shakedown at Fiorano.
The shakedown was closed off to media, and officially the Italian team was giving nothing away, but the day went without any hitches.
“The SF-25 is an evolution of the SF-24, which gave us an excellent starting point to work from,” said Loic Serra, Technical Director Chassis on Tuesday. “Having said that, we have worked hard, changing 99% of the car, evolving its architecture to maximise performance.
“The pull rod front suspension is only the most obvious of many significant changes,” he added.
“The good thing is that there were no bad surprises, which is what we were looking for in the first laps,” admitted Leclerc following his run, according to Auto Motor und Sport. “No feeling that we did not expect or numbers that we did not expect, that was not the case today and that is the positive news.
“To go beyond that is very difficult for now,” he admitted, “but the feeling was good and the atmosphere was incredible.”
“After driving I went to sleep because I got back from London this morning at 4:30 am and was on track for the first meeting at 7:30 am, so I was a bit tired this afternoon,” he was quoted as saying.
“It’s completely different,” said Hamilton of his new steed. “I didn’t expect… I thought, it’s another Formula 1 car. When I went from McLaren to Mercedes there were similarities, but I guess it’s still powered by Mercedes, so the sound, the vibration was all the same, was similar. Whilst there were slightly different characteristics of car, this is a step, you know, with the whole thing being completely different. It’s a really exciting experience.
“It’s far too early to know what the year is going to be like,” he admitted. “What we do know is it’s going to be very close between the top teams. We’ve not seen the other cars, we’ve obviously not been on track with all the other cars.
“To have this team all under one roof, is quite a unique experience that I’ve not had before. To have a track outside the factory is quite incredible.
“We know we have a huge amount of work to do. I know that I have a huge amount of work to do. I’ve only been here a month, or just over a month, so I’m still acclimatizing to a completely new car, completely new way of working, but everyone’s bent over backwards in this team to make me feel welcome, and I really feel at home.
“I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It feels natural, it feels it feels right.”
“I noticed that we have a very similar driving style,” said Leclerc of his new teammate, “which is a really good thing. It still needs to be confirmed because we haven’t driven together much, but from the little I’ve seen, it’s that we tend to drive quite similarly.
“Last year we finished second in the championship and I was very disappointed,” he added, “so surely now the normal goal is to win. The goal must always be to win when you drive in red. I would definitely be disappointed if the two titles don’t come, but we will do everything to make it happen.
“I love Ferrari and I want to win with Ferrari, so to win the title in red would be something absolutely incredible. I’m doing everything to try to do it as quickly as possible. I hope this is the right year.
“We’ve worked really well, not just me with the training, but the whole team have been working like crazy.”
The team now heads to Bahrain for the pre-season test which gets underway next Wednesday (26).
