The good news for
Ferrari
The good news is that the extensive upgrades in Bahrain seem to be effective. However, the unfortunate part is that they are still far from being sufficient to seriously contend with competitors.
McLaren
.
So far, upgrades have been scarce, and only a handful of teams have reported any new developments heading into the fourth race weekend of 2025 in Bahrain.
Ferrari topped the upgrade list with a substantial package.
This involved redesigning the floor from the front edge to include modifications of both the floor fences and the diffuser located at the back of the vehicle.
Those helped
Charles Leclerc
take fourth in second practice, on par with
George Russell
‘s
Mercedes
and ahead of
Max Verstappen
In the Red Bull but still lagging by half a second behind the leading McLaren.
Oscar Piastri
Hamilton trailed behind in eighth place, yet remained optimistic about the new floor setup he was using.
The enhancements are certainly paying off,” stated the seven-time world champion. “I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all those at home who put in tremendous effort to deliver these upgrades as they always come with significant challenges.
There’s significant effort involved in both the wind tunnel tests and assembling these components, so it’s satisfying to observe our progress. We’re making strides towards extracting greater benefits from this process. I trust that we will take the appropriate steps swiftly.
Given the usual fog of war surrounding Friday practice, Red Bull’s performance in particular must be taken with a hefty pinch of salt. But what is undeniable is that McLaren is well ahead, as much as it might like to play down its advantage on the hot and abrasive Bahrain circuit.
Ideally, we should be quicker compared to McLaren; however, they seem to be operating on a different level altogether right now,” Leclerc lamented. “While this is frustrating, I accept the reality of the situation, which only fuels my determination to narrow that performance gap swiftly. They truly excel in speed.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Image Credit: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“[The upgrades] are positive, but unfortunately the gap to McLaren is still big. We’ve got to maximise the car potential that we have for now. If that means finishing third, fourth, fifth, I don’t know what that will be, but we’ll have to take it.
“I hope that at one point we’ll be back at being the fastest car on track and there it will be a matter of maximising the car again. But for wins, and not for third anymore.”
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Leclerc still anticipates Verstappen as the primary rival for the papaya team, but believes Ferrari and Mercedes will be closely contested: “It appears that we are quite competitive with Mercedes. However, dealing with Red Bull might prove somewhat trickier.”
I believe Max used one fewer set of tires than us during FP2, putting him ahead. However, we have potential for improvement by optimizing both the vehicle and the new parts, and we’ll see how far that takes us.
