Ferrari plays down Bahrain upgrades despite Lewis Hamilton concerns: "Incremental"

Ferrari has introduced a new floor-focused upgrade package for the SF-25 at the Bahrain Grand Prix following a difficult start to the season.

Ferrari has brought its first substantial upgrade package to the 2025 Formula 1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The package focuses on a new floor, in an effort to inject more downforce into their underperforming SF-25 car.

The Italian team currently sits fourth in the constructors' standings, 76 points behind leaders McLaren. The team hopes this upgrade can at least make a small dent in the issues they're seeing so far this season.

According to the technical information released by the team, the floor fences have been re-profiled and the leading edge to the floor has also been changed. The wings and rear have also been changed with a reshaped boat tail and tunnel expansion. This looks to be an ambitious package, but Ferrari deputy team principal Jérôme d'Ambrosio has tempered expectations.

Talking to Motorsport.com and other media, the Belgian admitted this upgrade is an incremental improvement instead of an overhaul.

"I think more than a characteristic change, it's just, you know, adding a bit of performance, adding a bit of downforce in the continuity of what we've been developing over the winter," d'Ambrosio explained.

The deputy team principal was careful to manage expectations about the upgrade's impact.

"Having said that, our expectations are not that this is going to revolutionize the whole performance picture. It's just hopefully adding that bit of performance that's, in the end, on the line very important—because every hundredth that you add on the car, it's a step forward.

"And that's what we're trying to chase—again, not to revolutionize anything but just to add marginal and steady gains on the car."

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

The start of the season for the Scuderia has been disappointing. While Lewis Hamilton's stars aligned during the China sprint race as he took a dominant win, the team is yet to see a repeat of such levels of performance. In fact, the race saw both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified, the former for excessive plank wear and the latter for being underweight. This has led to speculation that Ferrari is forced to run their car higher than they'd want.

When asked directly about this issue, d'Ambrosio downplayed its significance:

"I think there's been a lot of talk about that ride height topic, and I think in the end, you know, with these regulations of cars, the lower you run, the more downforce you find," he said.

"You know, the talks that have been going on—I think have been a little bit exaggerated in the sense that, you know, you go down during the weekend as well, you go back up, you try to find your limit, and that's where you sit."

He was further asked about whether the Ferrari is more of a challenge to set up compared to its rivals.

"I don't know. I don't think so, but I'm not—obviously you can't speak for them. But I think it's just an exercise, and of course, the nature of the regulations makes it that it's an area where there's performance and people try to find a limit, and I think that's similar if not exactly the same for everyone."

This upgrade comes after comments from Hamilton on the performance of the car.

"I'm not really feeling a huge amount of issues, just we lack overall performance at the moment pace wise, which we will hopefully take a step this weekend.

"On my side, it's rear-end a little bit and that's about it."

What should we expect from Ferrari later this season in regards to further upgrade packages?

"Well, I think that's going to be definitely a fundamental question," d'Ambrosio admitted. "But I think it's for everyone the same—balancing the work of the 2025 car versus the development of the '26. And at the same time, I don't think it's a black-and-white situation.

"I don't think it's something that's set in stone at any moment during the season—at least until the moment where, you know, everyone will have decided—or the team will have decided for their own—at any moment where we will have decided to move on fully to 2026.

"That's not tomorrow. And the decision will take place based on different criteria and events. So it's a bit of a moving target, and at one point you'll have to make a call."

He continued:

"There's no one area. It's not like, 'Oh, we’ve got to fix this or that.' We're pretty close. And so I think in the end it's a mix of things.

"You know, it's trying to improve the balance. It's trying to add a little bit of downforce. It's trying to put everything in the window. And that's in the end how you move forward.

"There's no... it's a lot of little gains in many places that in the end bring you the result. And that's really the approach we're trying to have because it's a steady approach—and that's down the line."