Ferrari finally bounced back in Japan after two disastrous weekends to kick off 2025.
Positives for Ferrari in Japan for the Rest of 2025
The Scuderia finally experienced a stable weekend in 2025 in Japan.
Taking the positives into the next two weeks 👊 pic.twitter.com/xTzK5ccDY3
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 6, 2025
Charles Leclerc led Ferrari’s charge, picking up his first top-five finish in the 2025 F1 season in fourth.
New teammate Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, could manage only seventh. He made up one position around a Suzuka circuit that is notoriously difficult to overtake.
The Backdrop for Ferrari in 2025 Ahead of Japan
Coming into Suzuka, Ferrari appeared desperate to get themselves on the board.
After plenty of success in 2024, the Italian outfit had not been able to clock the same highs when the field took to Melbourne.
Both Ferrari cars qualified 7th and 8th for the opening race, behind the Williams of Alex Albon and the RB of Yuki Tsunoda. They would struggle to make up ground on a damp race day in Albert Park.
A late call to switch to slicks meant both drivers landed up eighth and tenth in the running order, sandwiched by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. With this, the Scuderia took home only five points in Australia.
However, their pace appeared to show in China. The SF-25 managed its tyres better on a green racetrack. This aided Hamilton’s sprint pole and sprint win in Shanghai.
It all came crashing down 24 hours later, though. Having qualified only fifth and sixth, neither Leclerc nor Hamilton would have the pace to challenge the front-running McLarens or the Mercedes of George Russell.
Further surprises awaited the scarlet red outfit post-race.
With Leclerc’s car proving to be underweight by 1.5 kg in post-race scrutineering, the Monegasque was disqualified from the results.
Hamilton also suffered excessive plank wear on his Ferrari during the race. With his Ferrari’s skid wear being 0.5 mm below the limit, he too suffered a disqualification. This meant Ferrari scored no points in Sunday’s race at Shanghai.
Coming into the weekend, both Leclerc and Hamilton were confident that Ferrari would find a solution to their problems.
They would not be quick fixes, and Suzuka was still set to be a difficult weekend in store.
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How Ferrari Fared in Free Practice in Japan in 2025
The 2025 Japanese GP offered Ferrari a shot at redeeming themselves.
A steady weekend would help ease nerves in the Italian team’s camp, even though it would not be the race win they were chasing.
The Ferrari’s speed would be visible on a track with no rubber laid down.
Leclerc went P3 in FP1, behind McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell. Hamilton finished right behind his teammate, in fourth.
Leclerc would then finish P7 in a largely interrupted FP2 session, while Hamilton, who had been continuing to learn the ropes with Ferrari, finished fourth.
However, with the repeated interruptions, this proved to be an unrepresentative session of running.
While the Monegasque said that Friday was very constructive, he was also quick to acknowledge the pace of the others:
“We need to be careful because McLaren seems to be on another planet” – Leclerc said, delivering a critical assessment of the team’s pace.
Reality Hits During Qualifying
Qualifying proved the harsh reality, with the SF-25 lacking overall balance compared to the McLarens and the Red Bull.
While it was suspected that Ferrari ran higher ride heights on their car after the disqualification in China, Leclerc disproved this theory.
He insisted after qualifying in Japan that the team lacked overall aerodynamic balance around Suzuka’s fast corners.
Leclerc had primarily lost time to pole-sitter Verstappen at Spoon curve as well as the final Casio Triangle chicane.
However, he was pleased to secure fourth in qualifying, maximising the efforts from his SF-25 to qualify ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes.
Hamilton, on the other hand, could not match his teammate’s stellar lap, qualifying only eighth behind Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.
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Race Day: A Race of Limitation for Ferrari in Japan
Post-qualifying, it was already known that Ferrari was staring at limiting the damage on race day.
With Japan’s Suzuka circuit providing only one DRS zone, and the fast corners generating dirty air into the car chasing, overtaking would be difficult.
While the threat of rain never materialised, the race grew into a stalemate after the five red lights went out.
Leclerc was able to fend off a charging Russell off the line, maintaining his P4 start position. He was on the medium tyre, much like those around him.
Elsewhere, Hamilton started on the hard tyres in a bid to try and make up places using an alternate strategy around a track that does not aid overtaking.
The Briton dispatched off the slower Racing Bulls car of Isack Hadjar on lap 6, claiming seventh on the road.
However, he would face an uphill task ahead, chasing down rookie Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes, who was over two seconds ahead.
Antonelli had backed up Mercedes’s expectations in Japan, qualifying sixth on the road. He was able to stay out and extend the gap to the seven-time champion. The gap grew to 4 seconds as the race progressed.
While Leclerc pitted at the same time as race leaders Verstappen and Norris onto the hard tyres, he was able to cover Russell, thereby maintaining his fourth-place position.
Hamilton pitted onto a set of medium tyres. He had run wide at the final chicane on lap 30, nearly losing P2 to Verstappen behind.
A one-lap undercut on Antonelli ahead meant he reduced the gap to the Italian to less than a second.
However, Antonelli was able to pull away on his newer hard tyres, building a seven-second gap to the Briton behind.
Future Rounds
Charles 🗣️ “The work we did on Friday in terms of set-up adjustment and the learnings we take into the next races have paid off. We made good progress, but we have to keep our heads down and keep working before we come to any conclusions.”
Leaving Suzuka with 18 points 🇯🇵
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 6, 2025
Leclerc and Hamilton eventually finished fourth and seventh at the flag, capping off a tough day for the team. However, it builds a steady baseline for Ferrari to build on in 2025.
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Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / PsnewZ
Recording Date: 04/06/2025