Explained: Key tech changes to Ferrari SF-25 F1 2025 car

Ferrari have run their new 2025 F1 car on track and, as promised, there are plenty of changes compared to its predecessor.

Having shown off their livery for the upcoming season at Tuesday night’s F1 season launch event at London’s O2 Arena, Ferrari released digital renders of their 2025 challenger, the SF-25, on Wednesday, before it hit the track for a shakedown at Fiorano.

Despite F1’s technical regulations remaining largely stable for 2025, that hasn’t stopped Ferrari from making some striking design changes to their new car as the team seeks more performance in their bid to end their long wait for an F1 world title.

Chassis technical director Loic Serra says Ferrari have changed “99% of the car” for 2025. But what exactly has been altered from the 2024 SF-24?

Pull-rod front suspension

The most visible change on the 2025 Ferrari is a switch from push to pull-rod front suspension.

Ferrari say the thinking behind this fundamental change in architecture was to “clean up the airflow around the car, while also giving greater scope for further aero development”.

With the F1 field ending 2024 incredibly close, and expected to converge even more this year, any advantage found through fine margins will be crucial. That is clearly Ferrari’s goal and motivation behind the switch.

"It was designed with the aim of maximising the development potential of the car, in a season when, thanks to the long stability of the regulations now in their final year, one can expect the field to be extremely evenly matched with just thousandths of a second in lap time making the difference,” a Ferrari statement explained.

Redesigned sidepods and radiator

The sidepods and radiator design on the SF-25 has also been overhauled.

The radiator inlet is larger than last year, while the car features overbite sidepod winglets and new bargeboard trailing edges. The sharkfin on the engine cover from the SF-24 has been removed.

The gully section on top of the sidepods has also been extended, resembling something closer to the ‘bath tub’ shaped design seen on the 2022 SF-75.

New front and rear wings

Ferrari’s new front wing is not hugely dissimilar to the SF-24, but the nose appears to be slightly wider and retains the slot gap.

At the back of the car, however, the rear wing is noticeably different. There is a deeper cut in the rear wing end fence and a new ‘w’ shape to the main plane with a raised leading edge.

Haas, who benefit from a technical collaboration with Ferrari, have chosen to follow the same approach with their rear wing.

Ferrari technical director explains

Expanding on the changes to the SF-25, Serra told media including Crash.net: “The main concept of the SF-25 is really about finding some space to boost the aerodynamic development and the development in general.

“The SF-24 finished reasonably strong, but it was becoming more and more difficult to develop and find performance. So, we had to sort of find space to boost the development rate.

“The car is more of a continuity of the previous car. Effectively, we’ve changed a lot of parts, we've changed most of the parts on the car. But the main performance concept remains the same.

“Most of the parts are new on the car. And it's not necessarily the most visible bits that have got the biggest influence. The devil is in the details.”

After missing out on a first constructors' world championship since 2008 last term, will the SF-25 be the car that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc can use to finally power Ferrari to title glory?