<p>“Ferrari without a boss, I would have taken Newey. Here is the real weak point”</p>
Interview with engineer Giorgio Stirano, one of the most prolific and esteemed Italian designers: “We feel the void of a technical director”
The years pass, the justifications change, but not the substance of the facts. From the "we need to understand" of Binottian memory we have moved on to the need to "exploit the potential of the car", but the World Championship remains a taboo for Ferrari , which is preparing to experience its home race in Imola and which is fresh from Miami , where it offered an embarrassing performance to say the least, triggering a thousand doubts about the competitiveness of the SF-25 , the competence of the technicians who designed it and the lack of reference figures in the top roles. There are many possible causes of the Ferrari flop: from aerodynamic problems, to those triggered by the new front suspension, from the lack of substantial updates, to the structural limits of the transmission.
To understand what is happening in Maranello and whether there is a possibility of reversing the trend, we turned to engineer Giorgio Stirano , one of the most prolific and esteemed Italian designers, with a past in Formula 1 with Osella and Alfa Romeo , consultant to Frank Williams and Patrick Head in the Ayrton Senna accident at Imola and two-time winner of the World Endurance Championship with the Alba Group C Junior cars he built, as well as holder of numerous patents in the field of suspension for high-performance cars and also with an intense activity in the field of high-performance road cars.
Engineer Stirano, at the presentation of the new Ferrari, team principal Frederic Vasseur had declared that 90% of the components of the SF-25 had been modified compared to the 2024 car, to decisively aim for the two world titles. Instead, after six race weekends and the ambitious proclamations at the beginning of the year, we find ourselves with a Red that has gone from second to fourth-fifth force in the championship. Are we facing a technical gamble, wrong choices or the lack of a technical director? "When you decide to start a new project you have to have very clear ideas about what the objectives are to be achieved. Vasseur said that this year's car has retained very few components from the previous one. However, it is not enough to change the components, you need to have a very precise technical directive. From what is known, on the technical organization of the Scuderia, which has a very broad base, in line with the other teams, there are two top technical responsibilities: Loic Serra for the chassis and Enrico Gualtieri for the engines. There is no news on who occupies the position of Technical Director, that is, the one who manages the overall responsibility of the project by mediating the chassis needs with those of the engine. I therefore assume that the current technical responsibility is equally in the hands of Fred Vasseur. We know of him as having good experience in managing teams, but he does not appear to have any real experience in designing a Formula 1 vehicle. And this for me is objectively a weak point."
In one of his last interviews before his death, two months ago, Eddie Jordan accused the current teams of relying too much on computers and not on the experience of technicians who had cut their teeth on the field in the junior categories. What do you think?
"Eddie Jordan ran a website until his recent passing where he commented on current Formula 1 events, with reasoning that I have always shared. The management of a Formula 1 project requires considerable theoretical expertise, great ability to use calculation and simulation methods, which Ferrari certainly has, and there is also a need for great coordination and charisma in technical management. Given how things are going at Ferrari, the impression is that the experience and practice of on-track set-up is lacking, an activity that links design, development and decision-making reactivity during the race. Ability that only comes from apprenticeship, not just theoretical."In 2025, Ferrari gave up the push-rod front suspension, switching to the pull-rod model. A change that should have improved the car's performance and favored more "aggressive" aerodynamic solutions at the front. Instead, there was a clear involution. What are the reasons: design or tuning limitations? «As I said before, a technical choice must lead to an increase in performance. Switching from the front “push rod” solution to the “pull rod” on a strictly functional level in the wheel-road relationship does not change things, if anything it influences a different distribution of weights, suspension components and their dimensions. The problem lies in the dynamic setup, in the correct overall management of the elastic and damping systems of the suspension system. Ferrari’s difficulty in managing the functional “window” of the tires is well known. To solve this, it is a question of focusing on the kinematic functioning of the suspension, not its architecture».
Another critical point of Ferrari in recent years is the aerodynamic updates. While the developments introduced by Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren almost always translate into an increase in performance, at Ferrari too often the opposite has happened. And for many years there has been talk of single-seaters born well but capped in development. Lack of technicians up to the task, limits of the Maranello wind tunnel or what else?
«Aerodynamics is another of the SF-25's weak points. Vasseur in recent months, or rather years, has tried to... clean up the aerodynamic sector, changing numerous technicians, but the results do not seem to have been truly decisive so far. Often and willingly the so-called "aerodynamic packages" have not been decisive. The impression one gets from the outside is that their origin is not understood, and this is the most serious problem. What is the cause? Inadequacy of the aerodynamic tools, such as the wind tunnel. One thing is certain: the Ferrari one, designed by Renzo Piano, was born in 1997 and has a very original configuration and a strongly inclined position. A unique typology in the world, captivating from an architectural point of view, perhaps not ideal for Formula 1. Was it really necessary to do it like this?».After the disastrous race in Miami, Charles Leclerc has basically thrown in the towel, while Vasseur believes there is still potential to be extracted from the SF-25. Is this season definitively compromised or is there still room to improve the performance of the Reds? «Personally, I believe that there is always “potential to be extracted”, provided that the path to follow is identified. Today, we work a lot with simulations, such as vehicle dynamics, CFD for aerodynamics, etc. It is essential that these tools go hand in hand with the physical reality of phenomena. There must be a correspondence between what can be hypothesized with the software, i.e. with the calculations, and what is actually “read” on the track. If this does not happen, and at the moment it does not seem to happen, it is difficult to make estimates that can lead to reliable solutions. The proof is that, at the moment, the drivers have antithetical methods of setting up the cars: Leclerc oversteers, Hamilton understeers. It is true that each driver has his own driving style but, in my opinion, the car gives its best with a prevailing set-up tendency».
Returning to the Miami race, many, starting with Leclerc himself, were unable to explain why Ferrari did better in qualifying with used tires than with new ones. How is such a thing possible, if new tires on paper are four-five tenths faster than used ones?
«Certainly the “planet” of tires is very difficult to interpret, however if you get the performance with used tires there is a basic problem to explain. However, if with more grip you go worse it means that “your potential” is far from being reached».In Barcelona, Ferrari should bring the package of updates that have been talked about for months and the new rules introduced by the Federation to contain the deformations of the front wing will come into force. Will the SF-25 be able to take advantage of this to reduce the gap with McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull? «Anything is possible, but so far, since the beginning of this season, we have not seen enough progress to be optimistic».
If the updates from Barcelona do not produce the desired results, will we have to regret yet another season without titles or worry about a 2026 full of unknowns, given the absence of a real technical director and the entry into force of a new regulation?
«Ferrari, through its CEO Benedetto Vigna, declared that negotiations with Adrian Newey were not pursued due to cost issues and to avoid disruptions with the company hierarchy. Without further proof, we cannot say that Newey would have been the solution to all of Ferrari's problems. I would have tried anyway!».The years pass, the justifications change, but not the substance of the facts. From the "we need to understand" of Binottian memory we have moved on to the need to "exploit the potential of the car", but the World Championship remains a taboo for Ferrari , which is preparing to experience its home race in Imola and which is fresh from Miami , where it offered an embarrassing performance to say the least, triggering a thousand doubts about the competitiveness of the SF-25 , the competence of the technicians who designed it and the lack of reference figures in the top roles. There are many possible causes of the Ferrari flop: from aerodynamic problems, to those triggered by the new front suspension, from the lack of substantial updates, to the structural limits of the transmission.
To understand what is happening in Maranello and whether there is a possibility of reversing the trend, we turned to engineer Giorgio Stirano , one of the most prolific and esteemed Italian designers, with a past in Formula 1 with Osella and Alfa Romeo , consultant to Frank Williams and Patrick Head in the Ayrton Senna accident at Imola and two-time winner of the World Endurance Championship with the Alba Group C Junior cars he built, as well as holder of numerous patents in the field of suspension for high-performance cars and also with an intense activity in the field of high-performance road cars.
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