Ferrari dispels ride-height speculation about Lewis Hamilton's car

Ferrari has dismissed speculation about an inherent problem with its 2025 Formula 1 challenger that is forcing it to run the car higher than it would like to.

Ferrari’s ride height has been a hot topic since the season kicked off in Melbourne last month, with it being reported that the team had to raise the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after Friday Practice.

Hamilton’s disqualification from the next round in China due to excessive plank wear - a direct consequence of running the car too close to the ground - added fuel to the fire, as rumours about the SF-25 intensified.

With Ferrari suffering a dismal start to the start and failing to score a single podium in a Sunday race, many observers have pinpointed the team’s inability to run the car low enough as the main reason for its lack of performance.

The fact that Hamilton was able to dominate the Shanghai Sprint from pole position, a race where the skid blocks are not subjected to the same wear as in a full grand prix, has led credence to the theory.

Ferrari respond to theory about F1 2025 car issue

However, team principal Fred Vasseur has now commented on the rumours from the first time, denying that its 2025 F1 car faces a specific issue that is preventing it from running at a lower ride height.

“We all want to run the car lower, we would all have more downforce in the situation, for everybody but there is a limit," Vasseur was quoted by Formula1.com. "The limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulations.

“We are all spending the weekend on where is the limit and where can we run the car a bit lower and then you are too low. It is the same for everybody and we all know with this type of car, performance is a lot linked to the ride height.

“It is true for us, it is true for everybody, it is true today but it was true for the last two years. We were disqualified in Austin in 2023 with Mercedes, because we were trying to reach the same point. 

"It is not the characteristic of the car this year or the characteristic of the Ferrari, it is true for all the field.”

Ride height has become even more important in the new ground-effect era that kicked off in 2025, with teams wanting to run the car as close to the asphalt as possible to extract the maximum performance.

Raising the ride height at a track not only affects aerodynamics but also causes the car to slide more, increasing tyre wear and negatively impacting performance.

Ride height was not the only issue that dogged Ferrari in China, with Leclerc also disqualified from the race after his car failed to meet the new 800kg weight requirement for 2025.

The Monegasque driver bounced back from the DSQ to finish fourth at Suzuka last weekend, securing Ferrari’s best grand prix result of 2025 so far.

Asked how challenging the start of the year has been for Ferrari, Vasseur said: “I’m used [to it] because the last two years we started like this.

“For sure it is not ideal and I would prefer to win the first one. But we don’t need to change the approach from last year as we are almost in the same situation, perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace, and the reaction of the team was very, very strong.
“We worked as a team, made small step by small step and we have to keep exactly the same approach, but for sure it is not ideal.”

Can Ferrari recover from its poor start?

After Japan, Leclerc and Hamilton sit sixth and eighth respectively in the drivers’ standings, while Ferrari holds fourth place in the constructors’ championship, having scored just 35 points compared to 111 for runaway leader McLaren.

Vasseur admitted that Ferrari needs to improve on the driveability of its F1 car to turn around its performance, having also faced a similar situation at the start of last season.

“If last year we did a good step forward from the beginning of the season to the mid-season or whatever, it is not because we found a magic bullet, we would never find something on the car worth three or four tenths," he said.

“It’s because you are putting together an area with two or three others, the balance, the driver getting the best from the car. I think on Saturday we were not very far away, but it was very difficult for us, but the same could be said for McLaren, it was very hard to put a lap together.

“If you look at Charles, he lost a tenth and a half in the last chicane, and then he lost one tenth in the first corner [in Qualifying]. It is not an excuse and I’m not trying to say we had the best car, but it is exactly the same for Piastri, and exactly the same for everybody.

"It was difficult to get the best from the car and we need to improve on the driveability we call it, to get the best from the package.”