New Floor to Fix Ferrari Issues? Hamilton's Hopes for Bahrain
Apr.7 - Ferrari is pinning its hopes on a much-needed floor upgrade that will reportedly make its debut this weekend in Bahrain.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur admits the 2025 car is lacking pace.
"We're missing two to three tenths of a second in qualifying," he told Sky Italia. "In the race, it's even more. We're talking about three to four tenths."
Ferrari faced some criticism for not fast-forwarding the debut of the new floor - reportedly to fix a clear flaw - to Suzuka.
"We don't have to and won't change our approach," Vasseur said. "And you'll never improve by three to four tenths in one go."
For his part, Lewis Hamilton can hardly wait for the much-needed upgrade, admitting that at present, the ride-height needs to be set "higher than we would like".
"We found something that wasn't delivering the desired performance in the last three races, and I hope we can achieve better results once we get that under control," said the seven time world champion.
"I hope we have this under control by the next race. Hopefully, when the new parts arrive, it shouldn't be there anymore. The step we need is in rear downforce.
Melbourne, Shanghai and now Suzuka, however, have shown Ferrari to be not only behind pacesetters McLaren, but also Max Verstappen's Red Bull and the two Mercedes.
Hamilton said: "We're fourth. If we get that downforce maybe we can get closer. The team is aware of it but doesn't know what causes it, but when we get the new part, it will be over."
Hamilton also admits that Charles Leclerc is currently the fastest Ferrari driver. The Monegasque driver is also eagerly looking forward to Bahrain, admitting Sunday at Suzuka - where he finished P4 - was "annoying".
"Bahrain next week will be very important for me because I will go there with a very clear direction that I want to take for my driving style," Leclerc said, somewhat mysteriously.
"This weekend doesn't make me smile because it hurts to see that when we do everything perfectly, as happened today, we are fourth. Now, after the first races, we can say that the starting point was not great, but this is what we can do for now."
Ferrari hasn't officially confirmed that a new floor will be in Bahrain, but Vasseur says the first significant update will arrive "soon".
"But before that," he said, "and raising the performance level, we also need to fix the problems we had in the last races in the balance. As soon as we have done that then it will make sense to take a step forward.
"We will certainly bring updates but in the end I think everyone will do the same. We're not thinking too much about the world championship right now."
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