Ferrari has dismissed speculation about an inhe𝓡rent problem with its 2025 Formula 1 challenger that is forcing it to run the car higher than it would like to.

Ferrari’s ride height has been a hot topic since the season kicked off in Melbourne last month, with it being reported that the team had to raise the cars of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton and168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Charles Leclerc after Friday Practice.

Hamilton’s disqualification from the next round in China due to excessive plank wear - a direct consequence of running the car too close to the ground - added fuel to the fire, as 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:rumours about the SF-25 intensiꩵfied.

With Ferrari suffering a dismal st▨art to the start and failing to score🌜 a single podium in a Sunday race, many observers have pinpointed the team’s inability to run the car low enough as the main reason for its lack of performance.

The fact that Hamilton was able to dominate the Shanghai Sprint from pole position, a race where the skid b𒐪locks are not subjected to the same wear as in a full grand prix, has𒁏 led credence to the theory.

Ferrari respond to theory about F1 2025 car issue

However, team principal Fred Vasseur has now commented on the ru😼mours from the fi🍸rst time, denying that its 2025 F1 car faces a specific issue that is preventing it from running at a lower ride height.

“We all want to run the car lower, we would aꦿll have more down🐠force in the situation, for everybody but there is a limit," Vasseur was quoted by Formula1.com. "The limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulations.

“We are all spend﷽ing the weekend on where is the limit and where can we run the car a bit lower and then you are too low. It is the same for everybody and we all know with this type of car, performance is a lot linked to the ride height.

“It is true for us, it is true🀅 for everybody, it is true todꦚay but it was true for the last two years. We were disqualified in Austin in 2023 with Mercedes, because we were trying to reach the same point. 

"It is not the characteristic of the car this year or the characteristic of the Ferrari, it is true for all the fieldಌ.”

Ride height has become even more important in the new ground-effect era that kicked off in 2025, with teams wanting to run t🎉he car as close to the asphalt as possible to extract the maximum performance.

Raising the ride height at a track not only affects aerodynamics but also causes the car to slide more, increasing tyre wear and negatively impacting perforꦯmance.

Ride height was not the only issue that dogged Ferrari in China, with Leclerc also disqualified from the race after his car faile🌼d to meet the new 800kg weight requirement for 20ꦛ25.

The Monegasque driver bounced back from the DSQ to finish fourth at ✤Suzuka last weekend, securing Ferrari’s best grand prix result of 2🌌025 so far.

Asked how challenging the s𝔉tart of the year has been for Ferrari, Vasseur said: “I’m used [to it] because the last two years we started like this.

“For sure it is not ideal and I would prefer to win the first one. But we don’t need to change the approach from last year as we are almost in the same situation, perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace, and the reaction of the team was very, very strong.
“We worked as a 🅷team, made small step by small step and we have to keep exactly the same approach, but for sure it is not ideal.”

Can Ferrari recover from its poor start?

After Japan, Leclerc and Hamilton sit sixth and eighth respectively in the drivers’ standings, while Ferrari holds fourth place in the constructors’ championship, having scored just 35 points compared to 111 for runaway leader McLaren.

Vasseur admitted that F🌳errari needs to improve on the driveability of its F1 car to turn around its performance, haღving also faced a similar situation at the start of last season.

“If last year we did a good step forward from the beginning of the season to the mid-season or whatev𓃲er, it is not because we found a magic bullet, we would never find something on the car worth three or four tenths," he said.

“It’s because you are putting together an area with two or three others, the balance, the driver getting the best from the car. I think on Saturday we were n🥃ot very far away, but it was very difficult foꦚr us, but the same could be said for McLaren, it was very hard to put a lap together.

“If you look at Charles, he lost a tenth and a half in the last chicane, and then he lost one tenth in the first 🧸corner [in Qualifying]. It is not an excuse and I’m not trying to say we had the best car, but it is exactly the same for Piastri, and exactly the same for everybody.

"It was difficult to get the best from the car and we need𓂃 🌟to improve on the driveability we call it, to get the best from the package.”