Ferrari has confirmed that the “headline numbers” seen with their SF-25 crucially correlate between track and the simulator.

That being said, the warning has been put out there by team principal Fred Vasseur and chassis technical director Loic Serra that the Australian GP pecking order will not represent a clear signal of what is to come.

Ferrari expecting Australian GP outlier

Two weeks on from a Bahrain test which provided clues on where the teams will stack up at the start of F1 2025, we are finally about to find out at this weekend’s season opener in Melbourne.

PlanetF1.com’s best guess over the F1 2025 pecking order starting out, formed from conversations with teams across the paddock and trackside observations, indeed places McLaren as the front-runner, followed by Red Bull/Mercedes and Ferrari behind them.

However, while Ferrari are happy with the data they are seeing, their belief is that whatever grid order we see in Australia, is not an accurate depiction of how it will look after that.

Ferrari will be a team very much under the spotlight in F1 2025 after sealing a blockbuster deal for seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who takes over alongside Charles Leclerc.

“The wait is finally over and we’re ready to take to the track for the first race of the season,” said Ferrari boss Vasseur.

“One could say we’re stepping back in time, as it’s been a few years since Australia hosted the opening round. The Albert Park street circuit is not particularly representative of what the rest of the year has in store, but we did well there last year.

“Naturally, there are plenty of unknowns and we are keen to find out what the hierarchy will be, especially as the results of the Bahrain test were very difficult to read.

“Everyone, including the drivers has worked hard all winter in the factory in Maranello. Charles has also pushed harder than ever in the gym, and Lewis has made a great effort to assimilate with the team as quickly as possible. I believe we have everything in place to do well.

“As always, we will concentrate on ourselves this week, aware that this is just the start of a very long season.

“A week ago, we were given a wonderful welcome by a huge crowd of our tifosi in Milan and now, in Melbourne, we will be aiming to give all our fans further reason to be proud of us.”

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The theme of not trusting the Australian GP pecking order continues with Serra, Ferrari’s new chassis technical director who joined Hamilton in departing Mercedes to link-up with the iconic Italian outfit.

But, it is always a good sign when the car and the simulator are aligned.

“Despite the unusually challenging weather conditions we faced in Bahrain, the test was really useful for us and we got through all our planned programme, the car running reliably with no major issues,” he said.

“The SF-25 headline numbers were pretty much in line with expectations and the car responds well to set-up changes. We were pleased to see that there was good correlation between the data we got at the Sakhir track and what we had seen in the simulator. That really is an essential foundation to now focus on maximising the car performance race by race.

“Bahrain was particularly cold and this weekend, we can expect much hotter weather at the end of the Australian summer, which will affect car behaviour, particularly in terms of the tyres.

“By the end of the weekend we will have a clearer but not yet definite picture of the hierarchy among the teams. We will focus on ourselves and work on having a strong start to the season.”

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