BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton Facing Four-Month Window with Ferrar

Lewis Hamilton Facing Four-Month Window with Ferrari’s Project 678 on the Horizon

Ferrari is reportedly set to focus heavily on their new SF-25 car for the first four months of the 2025 Formula 1 season before shifting attention to their 2026 project, codenamed Project 678. According to a recent report from Italy, this strategy will place significant pressure on Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to perform strongly at the start of the season.

Ferrari to Prioritise SF-25 Over Project 678

The 2025 season marks the final year of the current F1 regulations before the sport undergoes a significant overhaul in 2026, with rule changes that will bring in 50 per cent electrification, fully sustainable fuels, and active aerodynamics. With such major changes on the horizon, F1 teams are now faced with a critical choice: whether to focus their resources on developing the 2025 car or begin allocating efforts to their 2026 model in preparation for the new regulations.

Ferrari, it seems, has opted to make the SF-25 car their priority for at least the first four months of 2025. This approach will allow the team to fully capitalise on their current car under the existing rules, before eventually transitioning more resources toward their Project 678 car for the 2026 season.

The decision is complicated by the budget cap and the aerodynamic research restrictions in F1, which limit how much time and resources teams can spend on developing their cars. These restrictions are based on a sliding scale determined by each team’s position in the Constructors’ standings. Teams that finish lower in the standings are allocated more time for wind tunnel runs and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) work, encouraging closer competition across the grid.

Ferrari’s Wind Tunnel Allocation for 2025

Having finished second in the Constructors’ standings in 2024, Ferrari has secured 900 hours of wind tunnel time for the first half of 2025. This is 60 more hours than the reigning champions, McLaren, and 60 fewer than Red Bull, who finished third last season. With this advantage, Ferrari is looking to maximise their chances of competing for the title in 2025 by maintaining their focus on the SF-25 for as long as possible.

Auto Racer reports that Ferrari’s technical director, Loic Serra, has devised a detailed plan to manage the team’s resources during this transition. He has already begun assigning a select group of engineers to work exclusively on the development of Project 678, while the main priority remains on the 2025 car.

New Concepts for the SF-25

Ferrari’s decision to stick with the SF-25 for the first half of the 2025 season is backed by a range of new technical concepts. The car will feature a pullrod front suspension layout, similar to the systems long employed by Red Bull and McLaren. This innovation is designed to keep the SF-25 competitive as the team prepares for the 2026 rule changes.

Moreover, an upcoming technical directive at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2025, which will further restrict the use of flexi-wings, has also prompted Ferrari to continue refining their 2025 car. With these factors in mind, the team is focused on making the SF-25 as competitive as possible in the first months of the season.

Ferrari’s Ambitions for 2025

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has confirmed that the SF-25 will be a “completely new” car compared to the 2024 model, which came close to winning Ferrari’s first World Championship since 2008. Vasseur emphasised that the SF-25 will feature less than 1 per cent of the components used in its predecessor, making it a fresh project with high expectations.

“The car will be completely new; I think we’ll have less than 1 per cent of the parts in common with the 2024 car,” Vasseur said. “It’s a different project. If it will be competitive, we’ll find out in Bahrain [pre-season testing]. Sometimes you don’t realise you’re taking risks until afterwards.”

With the pressure on to deliver early results in 2025, all eyes will be on Hamilton and Leclerc as Ferrari navigates this delicate balance between focusing on the present and preparing for the future.

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