Ferrari considering major change to upgrades approach

Ferrari could be about to make a big change in how it approaches upgrades in future, amid concerns that there is little more progress to be made from incremental improvements under the current static rules.

Even Red Bull seems to be struggling to get any extra performance out of its existing package, allowing rivals such as Ferrari and McLaren to rapidly close the gap and catch up with them in this year's championship.

As a result, Ferrari have won two races so far this season with McLaren also victorious in Miami, compared to last year where Red Bull was victorious in all but one race all season.

Ferrari brought a new upgrade package for Imola that bore fruit in Monaco for Charles Leclerc, and intends to bring the next one for the British GP next month having originally planned to introduce it it Hungary.

Teams also are expected to bring modified rear wings to the next two races - a low drag version for Canada, and one designed for medium-speed circuits for Spain - but finding any big improvements is becoming more and more difficult.

• Read also: Vasseur says Ferrari complacency would be ‘the beginning of the end'

“With the cost cap and the current regulation you have to manage both sides," Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said this week, as reported by Motorsport.com.

"You have a kind of convergence of performance and the development rate is much lower than it was two years ago," he explained. "It means that each time that someone is bringing an upgrade.

"I think it's true for us, but it's true for everybody: the gain is smaller than it was two years ago, and this is normal," he insisted. "We will bring upgrades when we have something to bring.

The cost cap means that the team has to be careful about where it spends its resources in a way that will have the biggest impact - not just on the current season but on next year and beyond.

“Part of the team is working on the next updates that we will see during this season, and another is already focused on next year's," Vasseur said. “We have already given the go-ahead to the 2025 car.

"Furthermore, work has already started some time ago on the 2026 power unit. With regards the chassis and aerodynamics, we can hypothesize a few concepts but nothing more given that there are no [agreed] regulations yet.”

In seeking a way of maintaining its current momentum, Ferrari is even reported to be considering a fundamental change to its chassis design philosophy that the team had previously ruled out.

The squad is said to be looking into switching to the pull-rod front suspension already used by Red Bull and McLaren, which gives aerodynamic advantages by improving airflow around the front of the car and the channels underneath.

That would need a complete overhaul of the existing chassis and could open the door to changing the driver position and improving weight distribution, changes that would feed into the 2026 car when new rules come into effect.

Ferrari is additionally the only manufacturer on the grid currently using a pull-rod rear suspension system, although customer team Haas uses the same approach. Ferrari bosses believe changing this element would have little impact.

"Our rear suspension is a bit different in terms of top and lower wishbone distribution compared to a Red Bull one," Ferrari technical director Enrico Cardile explained. “We recorded good aero results moving towards this direction.

"When moving from pull-rod to push-rod we didn't measure a big advantage to justify some compromise in terms of weight or compliance so from there we evolved our suspension, keeping the same layout.”

Such discussions have added to speculation that the man to oversee this major overhaul could be Adrian Newey, who has announced his exit from Red Bull where he pioneered many race-winning aerodynamic enhancements.

Newey has not confirmed what he will do in 2025, but in the past has expressed a desire to move to Maranello and work alongside seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton as the crowning moment of his F1 career.

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