F1 News: Technical boss not to blame for Ferrari struggle

(GMM) Ferrari is reportedly hoping a combination of ‘old and new’ will help rescue the Italian team’s flailing 2025 campaign.

Team boss Frederic Vasseur left Imola satisfied with race pace but frustrated with the current car’s ongoing pace struggles over a single lap.

It has left an increasingly frustrated Charles Leclerc lacking hope ahead of his home race at Monaco this weekend. “I am not optimistic,” he admitted to Corriere dello Sport.

“We are going to a track that will expose us to our weaknesses. Of course there is always unpredictability and the setups are different from those for any other circuit, so we hope to surprise ourselves as we did at Imola in the race,” he added.

Lewis Hamilton agrees: “We have a car that is good in the fast corners, ok in the medium speed ones, and maybe it is not as strong as the others on the slow corners.”

Corriere della Sera correspondent Daniele Sparisci, however, is more blunt.

“The comeback at Imola does not cover the problems – Ferrari cannot fight for this world championship, but it cannot give up on the season at this point either,” he said.

“Without developments, it risks ending up behind Williams.”

The specialist Italian media is reporting that the team at Maranello is frantically working on what seems to be the car’s main flaw – the rear suspension.

Corriere della Sera explained: “The new rear suspension has passed dynamic test benching and is being tested in the wind tunnel with different aerodynamics.”

The newspaper said it will not debut until Silverstone, but Vasseur is hopeful the change in front wing regulations for Barcelona will also have an impact.

It is also being reported that Ferrari will take the 2024-specification rear wing used at Monaco last year to the Principality’s twisty streets this weekend.

Some of the blame for Ferrari’s current situation is falling on technical director Loic Serra, who started work at Maranello late last year. “When Loic arrived six months ago,” Vasseur insists, “the current car was already – let’s say – 90 percent defined.

Loic Serra and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

Serra replaced Enrico Cardile, who has switched to Aston Martin.

“We made mistakes with the car,” Vasseur admits. “We need to do better, but the motivation is there and the mindset is there too.”

More bad news for Ferrari, however, is that the team has failed in its bid to woo McLaren’s aerodynamics boss and chief of staff Giuseppe ‘Pino’ Pesce to Maranello, according to Corriere dello Sport.