Ferrari SF-25: Loic Serra explains why most influential innovations are those not visible

Yesterday at 11:43 AM

Frederic Vasseur made it clear that the SF-25 is not a revolution of its predecessor but rather an evolution, mainly because the small margins in last year's championship confirmed that it was unnecessary to completely change the car, but rather to focus on key areas.

However, this does not mean that Maranello's latest creation does not represent a clear break from the previous season’s car, as some modifications are more significant than they may appear.

Although the SF-24 ended the year on an upward trajectory and fought for the Constructors' Championship title until the final race, it had reached its peak evolution. As often happens, more substantial changes were needed to unlock further potential. Such interventions are generally postponed to the development of the following year's car, especially if they involve the chassis or significant modifications to the suspension system.

This was also the case for the SF-25 project, whose development, at least in its embryonic phase, began last March, well in advance of the end of last season. However, it evolved in parallel with the 2024 single-seater to understand which areas required the most radical interventions to unlock additional performance in 2025.

The innovations open new development paths
Speaking on the sidelines of the filming day of the new car, during which the SF-25 completed its first kilometers, technical director Loic Serra emphasized this aspect and how certain changes, even seemingly minor ones, were made specifically to go beyond the limits of its predecessor.

"The work on the SF-25 began in March of last year, so in terms of development, it is a progression of the SF-24. This is because I only arrived at Ferrari in October when all the decisions had already been made. But we should not think that everything was finalized as early as September because this is a continuous process that lasts throughout the entire season," Loic Serra explained in a recent interview for the Italian media after the official reveal of the new Ferrari Formula 1 car for the 2025 championship.

"In general, the approach is to find room for improvement in development. All of this had become impossible with the SF-24. We essentially wanted to make sense of it by optimizing what we already had."

“Since the technical regulations have reached their final year, with these cars, everything is based on details. We focused on the front suspension, but that is only the most visible part of the tip of the iceberg. Most of the car is new, and it is not necessarily something that can be seen with the naked eye from the outside, but those are precisely the parts that have the greatest influence,” added Loic Serra.

There are also many less eye-catching but crucial aspects, such as the redesign of the gearbox and the modification of the wheelbase—changes that go hand in hand with numerous interventions aimed at unlocking potential even in the medium-to-long term. The switch to the pull-rod layout at the front is the most easily noticeable innovation, but modifying the suspension layout and repositioning the components also means rethinking airflow management along the bodywork, opening up new development paths that had reached their limit with the SF-24.

The development of the SF-25 was designed on two fronts
Ferrari's engineers have therefore worked on two fronts. Some interventions were aimed more at delivering immediate performance, so that, at least in the engineers’ hopes, the 2025 project can be competitive right from the start of the year without having to chase rivals.

Other changes, on the other hand, serve as a sort of groundwork for the medium term, anticipating the updates that will arrive in the early part of the championship. “The main objective with the SF-25 was to create room to push aerodynamic development, but also, more generally, for the updates that will come throughout the season. The SF-24 ended the season very well, but it had become impossible to find further margin for performance improvements.”

It is not unusual for certain winter modifications to be aimed more at unlocking performance in the medium term rather than immediately, and it is no coincidence that Frederic Vasseur has explained how this year's development program will be flexible.

There will be a less steep learning curve
Twelve months ago, Ferrari was in a completely different situation from the current one. In 2023, it decided to abandon the concept that debuted with the F1-75, shifting towards solutions used by its rivals, with a definitive transition to a different philosophy that materialized with the SF-24.

This clearly required a period of understanding the project to better grasp its functioning, as well as its strengths and limitations. On the contrary, although there are significant changes this year, such as the switch to the pull-rod suspension, the concept of the SF-25 has remained very similar to that of its predecessor.

This will make the learning curve less steep than in the past: "Even though the car has changed a lot, it is a continuation of its predecessor. We have changed many internal components, but the philosophy remains the same. We hope that the development margin will give us that extra boost compared to last year."

Details can make the difference, starting with the tires
Clearly, the Frenchman only joined Ferrari as technical director last October, so many key project decisions were actually made by other engineers. However, this does not mean that Serra cannot contribute as early as 2025 and not just for 2026.

In his previous experiences, Serra was considered a tire specialist, and this is one of the areas where Ferrari, like other teams, can still extract potential, particularly in qualifying, where last year it struggled to get the tires into the right operating window.

In recent weeks, we have discussed how some modifications adopted with the SF-25, particularly in the suspension area, were designed to address some of the weaknesses of its predecessor. This is not just about the front pull-rod suspension, which was chosen primarily for aerodynamic reasons, but more importantly about the internal components that make it up, such as the torsion bars and dampers, in an effort to maximize the performance of the Pirelli tires.

The SF-24 was a car that was gentle on its tires in the race, capable of making them last a long time, but to become an all-around competitive car, it needed to make progress in single-lap performance by improving tire management. Achieving this balance is certainly not simple, but it was one of the key strengths of the McLaren MCL38. Some of the changes on the SF-25 are aimed precisely in this direction.

Loic Serra himself is convinced that, as an expert in vehicle dynamics, there is still a lot to extract from the tires, especially considering that with such a tightly packed grid, as is expected for most teams, every fraction of a second could make a significant difference in positioning and race prospects.

"If we think about last year's grid, the car ahead of us was about 30 milliseconds faster. Based on that, every single millisecond we can find aerodynamically, in the suspension system, or, most importantly, in tire management, really makes a big difference. In qualifying, the tires can give more."

— see video above —

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