Ferrari's 2025 F1 campaign delivered an uninspiring and underwhelming fourth-place constructors' finish with 398 points and zero grand prix victories.
It was a season of promise that fell dismally short of expectations, coming off the back of a constructors' championship battle with McLaren the year before.
In the end, the campaign was overshadowed by adaptation struggles and technical miscalculations. Hopefully for the Scuderia, the decision to end all aerodynamic development on the SF-25 in April bears fruit in 2026.
The pairing of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton represented one of the most intriguing driver combinations on the grid, yet their performances told starkly different stories throughout the 24-round slate.
The latter, in his maiden Ferrari campaign, suffered through the most challenging season of his illustrious career, finishing sixth in the drivers' championship without a single grand prix podium.
For a seven-time world champion, the statistic was unprecedented and painful. Hamilton's struggles extended beyond results, with the 40-year-old qualifying an average of almost two-tenths of a second slower than Leclerc and scoring just 64.5 per cent of his team-mate's points.
The adaptation difficulties were multifaceted. Hamilton's driving style, honed over decades with Mercedes power units, clashed with Ferrari's engine characteristics and the SF-25's narrow operating window, and he regularly cut a dispondent and dejected figure when attending to his media duties.
His only triumph came via a sprint race victory in China, a rare bright spot in an otherwise frustrating campaign that saw him end the year with an average finishing position of 8.5 to Leclerc's 6.75.
Despite the struggles, Hamilton has remained committed to the Ferrari project, acknowledging the learning curve while expressing no regrets about his career-defining move to Maranello.
Leclerc, on the other hand, once again demonstrated his exceptional pace and racecraft, securing fifth place in the drivers' championship with 242 points. The Monegasque driver carried Ferrari's hopes throughout the season, claiming all of the team's grand prix podium finishes, including second-place results at Monaco and Mexico.
While Leclerc failed to convert any victories from his efforts, the 28-year-old's consistency was crucial for the team, completing all but three grands prix, including the team's double disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix.
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What went wrong and what lies in wait?
Ferrari's technical approach backfired spectacularly in 2025, with a critical mid-season development decision hampering the SF-25's performance.
The team's focus on rear suspension modifications rather than aerodynamic updates, which had been stopped by that stage, created a car with extreme rigidity that proved unresponsive to setup changes.
This inflexibility became particularly problematic when track conditions didn't match simulation data.
The narrow operating window that defined the SF-25 taught Ferrari valuable lessons about car development priorities.
Following disqualifications in China due to plank wear violations, the team adopted conservative setups that sacrificed downforce for regulatory compliance, further compromising performance.
Looking ahead to 2026, Ferrari has maintained the Leclerc-Hamilton partnership as it, like all teams, grapples with the complete rules reset.
The revolutionary regulation changes present an opportunity for redemption, with new power unit architecture featuring a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electric power, active aerodynamics, and significantly lighter cars.
Ferrari's January 23 launch at Fiorano will unveil their 2026 challenger, with team principal Fred Vasseur prioritising reliability over early performance gains.
The comprehensive rule changes offer Ferrari a chance to correct 2025's miscalculations. With all-new power units and dramatically altered car dimensions, the playing field will be levelled across all teams.
For Hamilton, the regulation changes may provide the fresh start needed to rediscover his championship-winning form in Ferrari red.
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