Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has further explained the compromise the team is having to make after Lewis Hamilton’s comments on the SF-25.
After qualifying at Suzuka, Hamilton explained that the team had to raise the ride height of the car to avoid the skid-block hitting the track – a contributing factor in Hamilton’s disqualification from the Chinese GP.
With the ground-effect cars, any rise in the ride height affects performance, with Ferrari currently fourth in the constructors’ championship with only 35 points, already 76 behind leaders McLaren.
Asked about the problem, Vasseur explained how the team was trying to push the limit of the rules, but naturally is wary of risking a further disqualification.
“For sure, we all want to run the car lower and we all want to have more downforce in this situation, it would be better, but there is a limit,” Vasseur told media including RacingNews365.
“But there is a limit, the limit is bottoming and the limit is also the regulations.
“We are all spending the weekend finding what the limit is, where we can run the car a bit lower but then you are too low.
“It is the same for everybody and we all know that car performance is linked a lot to the ride height, it is true for us and true for everybody over the last few years.
“We were disqualified [at the 2023 United States GP with Leclerc along] with Mercedes [Hamilton] and it was because we were trying to reach the same point.
“It is not a characteristic of the car this year, or the characteristics of the Ferrari, it is true for all the teams.
“In the last two years, we started like this and it is not ideal. We would prefer to win than finish P5, that is clear.
“But we don’t have to change the approach, compared to one year ago, we were almost in the same situation, and perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace.
“And the reaction of the team was very, very strong. We worked as a team, and made small steps.”
