Ferrari reveal 2025 F1 car plan ahead of Lewis Hamilton move
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur confirmed that development on this year’s car will stop after the next F1 race in Austin – as key figures started their roles at the Scuderia this week ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s impending arrival.
Hamilton, 39, will leave Mercedes – where he has won six of his seven F1 world championships – at the end of the 2024 season following 12 years with the Silver Arrows.
The British driver will replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, teaming up with Charles Leclerc as he bids to land a record-breaking eighth title with the sport’s most prestigious outfit.
Ferrari team principal Vasseur, who worked with Hamilton in junior formula in the mid-2000s, revealed that work on the 2025 car – codenamed project 677 – has already started, with Italian press reporting the design concept will focus on suspension changes to aid Hamilton’s driving style.
“We all know that we already started the development of the next car and we try to do our best to have small upgrades at the next [race],” Vasseur said, after the last grand prix in Singapore.
“I think it will be probably the last one [upgrade] for everybody. That will be true for us but it will be true for the other teams.
“Now it’s so tight overall in the last four or five, six races, if you have a look at the grid, it may get tight and every single bit can make a difference.”
Ferrari trail leaders McLaren by 75 points in the constructors’ standings, with Leclerc 34 points off second-placed Norris in the drivers’ standings.
Norris trails leader Max Verstappen by 52 points with six races to go.
Meanwhile, former Mercedes personnel Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio started their roles at Ferrari on Tuesday.
Serra will lead a seven-man technical team at Maranello, working as chassis technical director, while ex-driver D’Ambrosio will focus on the development of young drivers in the Ferrari Driver Academy, where the likes of Ollie Bearman have emerged from.
D’Ambrosio will also act as deputy team principal to Vasseur.
F1 returns after a three-week break with the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 18-20 October.