‘Serious problem’ theory emerges for Lewis Hamilton’s poor Ferrari debut
A potential explanation for Ferrari's dire performance in the F1 Australian Grand Prix has emerged.
Ferrari’s Australian Grand Prix weekend unraveled after a “serious problem” with their 2025 F1 car was uncovered, it has been claimed.
It proved to be a hugely disappointing Ferrari debut for Lewis Hamilton after much pre-season hype and anticipation, with the seven-time world champion only able to finish 10th in Australia, two places behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
That came after Ferrari made an incorrect strategy call to keep both their drivers on dry tyres for too long when a late rain shower hit the Albert Park Circuit, dropping them down the order.
Ferrari’s performance in a dry qualifying was also underwhelming, with Leclerc seventh and Hamilton eighth as they had to settle for the fourth row, well adrift of pacesetters McLaren.
Was ride height problem to blame?
According to Motorsport Italy, Ferrari were forced to raise their SF-25 challenger to avoid bottoming out too much and wearing away the plank, something which can lead to disqualification.
The report claims this decision was taken after a “serious problem” was discovered on the simulator, which revealed Ferrari had been running their car too close to the ground during Friday practice.
Ferrari addressed the problem by running their car in a compromised state for Saturday and Sunday, resulting in a loss of outright downforce and sliding, which ate through the rear tyres - costing further performance.
The report added: “Australia is not a significant circuit to judge a car, we will have to wait for the answers of China and, above all, Japan to get an idea of the real value of the red, but what Fred Vasseur had pompously indicated as a world championship team, has highlighted several stretch marks.
“…Ferrari must turn the page and immediately think of Shanghai, in the hope that the Australian disaster will remain an isolated episode.”
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur indicated that his team had failed to optimise their car for the Melbourne track.
"The conditions today are not representative of the performance. Friday to Q2 is more representative," he said.
"As soon as you overheat the tyres you have a big drop. The real picture of the performance is more what we saw on Friday and Saturday but even then McLaren is one step ahead.
"If you don't adapt the car to the weekend to the tyres, to the track temp, you are out of the range of performance. Next weekend will be a different one."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
