Ferrari breakthrough for Hamilton and Leclerc with ‘step forward’ made

Ferrari deputy team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio confirmed that a “step forward” has been achieved with the SF-25 in Austria.

The confirmation that a new floor brought to Austria “delivered what it was supposed to deliver” will be music to the ears of Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, though while the Scuderia are set on finding further performance in the SF-25, d’Ambrosio noted that this must be balanced with their F1 2026 efforts.

Ferrari SF-25 boost: More performance to come?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ferrari arrived at the Red Bull Ring with a revamped floor and diffuser, looking to boost their bid for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship as McLaren march towards back-to-back titles.

And the first audition was a positive one, Leclerc making the front row before finishing the race P3 – his fourth podium of the season – while Hamilton was a comfortable P4.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur returned home for personal reasons ahead of the Austria race, meaning deputy d’Ambrosio provided the upgrades verdict.

“The feedback is that it’s basically delivered what it was supposed to deliver, which is important, and it’s a step forward,” he confirmed to the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“And then in terms of future development, obviously I’m not going to unfold how we’re going to approach the next six months right here, but let’s say that we’re in a phase of the season where we need to… And actually it’s something that we’ve been thinking about since the beginning of the year. ’26 is a big change.”

F1 2025 head-to-head standings after the Austrian GP

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

This is the final season with the current regulations. For F1 2026, revamped chassis rules and engines are on the way.

D’Ambrosio added: “There’s ’25 also. We want to make progress. We want to continue to move forward, balancing the two, and it will be something that we’re taking into consideration.”

The Ferrari SF-25 has been plagued by rear-end instability, so d’Ambrosio was asked whether the new floor has cured some of the SF-25’s core weaknesses.

“The floor was an evolution of the current philosophy,” he replied. “There was no drastic change in approach or in philosophy on the car.

“It was just adding a bit of downforce, and that’s what we did.

“There’s obviously a lot of things that we’re working on in the background, on every aspect of the car, and we want to move forward again.

“It’s an important consideration between the challenge of next year and between this year’s challenge. But if we can, and what we do in the factory is to try to push the boundaries and improve the car.”

Ferrari depart Austria P2 in the Constructors’ standings, one point ahead of Mercedes.

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