Ferrari’s SF-25 revealed ahead of 2025 F1 season

On Tuesday Formula 1 held its first-ever season launch event, with all ten teams gathering at The O2 in London to unveil their liveries for the upcoming season. One of the night’s most-anticipated moments? When Lewis Hamilton walked out with Ferrari, in his public debut with the Scuderia.

However, an even bigger public debut came for the team on Wednesday at their test track. Ferrari put the SF-25, their challenger for the 2025 season, through its paces at the team’s test track in Fiorano:

Charles Leclerc took to the track in the morning session, with Hamilton scheduled to drive later in the day:

Later in the day Ferrari shared a clip of Hamilton rocketing around the test track:

Between images released by the team on social media and these videos, we can start diving into the changes Ferrari has made for the SF-25.

One of the biggest changes? A switch to a pull-rod front suspension for the SF-25, a departure from the push-rod configuration used by the team in previous seasons.

As for the difference between a push-rod and a pull-rod design? We can turn to this discussion between the two, with the difference outlined in this 2023 piece from F1:

That rod which connects the top of the wheel to the torsion spring is called the ‘pull-rod’ or ‘push-rod’. That’s because the rod can be fixed to ‘pull’ or ‘push’ that spring.

In a pull-rod configuration, the rod is mounted at a diagonal angle from a low point on the chassis, up to a higher point on the wheel assembly. When a tyre goes over a bump, the wheel pulls the torsion spring via the pull-rod, pulling the rod up and outwards from the chassis.

In a push-rod configuration, it’s mounted the opposite way, so again at a diagonal angle, but higher on the chassis and lower on the wheel assembly. When the tyre goes over a bump, the wheel pushes the torsion spring via the push-rod, pushing the rod upwards and towards the chassis.

The video contained in that piece is worth a watch.

In previous seasons, such as with last year’s SF-24, Ferrari used a push-rod configuration. The rod was mounted at a higher point on the chassis, and lower on the wheel assembly. You can see that configuration in this photo of Leclerc’s SF-24 at the Miami Grand Prix:

As you can see, in the area highlighted with the red box you see the push-rod design, with the rod mounted higher on the chassis and lower on the wheel.

As you can see from this image of the SF-25 released by the team, this season’s challenger has a pull-rod design, with the rod mounted at a lower point on the chassis, and a higher point on the wheel:

Ferrari explained the reasoning for this switch, which models a configuration used by McLaren and Red Bull:

“The most visible change initiated by the Loic Serra-led team is without a doubt that made to the front suspension that switches from a pushrod to a pull rod design. The thinking behind this change in architecture was to clean up the airflow around the car, while also giving greater scope for further aero development, which had pretty much been exhausted with the previous iteration.”

Ferrari’s SF-25 also incorporates some changes to the sidepods, some of which the team began rolling out during the 2024 season. The first is the use of an “overbite” air inlet at the front of the sidepods, a change from how the team began the 2024 campaign with the SF-24. Last year Ferrari began the season with an “underbite” configuration, which you can see in this image from the 2024 Miami Grand Prix:

However, ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Ferrari made the switch to an overbite configuration, which is how they are beginning the year with the SF-25:

In addition, the sidepods themselves are more streamlined, with more of a channel cut out in the sidepod below the intake.

Furthermore, the SF-25 makes the switch to the P-shape front inlet used by other teams on the grid, which replaces the dual vertical/horizontal configuration used by Ferrari last season.

Looking at the engine cover of the SF-25, the “shark fin” design is less pronounced than it was in the SF-24. While the SF-24 also had three air outlets along the engine cover, Ferrari has opted for a single air outlet with the SF-25:

Finally, the SF-25 has some detailing to the floor edge similar to how the team finished the 2024 season:

Compare that image with this photograph from the 2024 Miami Grand Prix:

Ferrari began updating the floor edge to the SF-24 in the latter stages of the 2024 season, introducing changes in an upgrade package the team brought to Monza. The SF-25 incorporates many of those changes to the floor edge with the SF-25. These changes to the floor edge were introduced to improve aerodynamics and airflow.

Will these changes to the SF-25 work? We will start getting those answers next week with pre-season testing.