2025 Chinese Grand Prix - Practice, Sprint & Qualifying Thread

**FerrariF60** · 17th March 2025, 14:44

So fellow tifosi, the first race of the years is done and dusted.
Can't say that i'm NOT disappointed, but as others have mentioned here, it is a totally brand new car from the ground up and we gotta give the team the benefit of the doubt.

we'll see how we'll stack up against the likes of Mclaren, red bull and merc after 4-5 races at which the tracks will be more representative compared to OZ which is not really a race track per say....and we've never shown there in previous years....

also it is worth mentioning that this weekend is a SPRINT format, and is gonna be that much crucial to get the set up right because of ONLY one free practice session.

Cheers boys and gals and as always

FORZA FERRARI!!!

**patrese86** · 17th March 2025, 15:52

Fred says this circuit won’t be strong for us. Looking at Melbourne we seemed like we had decent race pace in practice but of course that fell apart on the race. So what is it about this circuit that will highlight our weaknesses?

**Dune** · 17th March 2025, 17:53

Originally Posted by patrese86

Fred says this circuit won’t be strong for us. Looking at Melbourne we seemed like we had decent race pace in practice but of course that fell apart on the race. So what is it about this circuit that will highlight our weaknesses?

They better show right away that Australia was an anomaly. If not, this season could become a disaster.

**FerrariF60** · 17th March 2025, 18:18

Originally Posted by Dune

They better show right away that Australia was an anomaly. If not, this season could become a disaster.

lets hope that it WAS an anomaly and NOT something fundamentaly wrong with our new car....cause if it's the later, this is gonna be a VERY LONG season for us.

**Kyss4k** · 17th March 2025, 18:41

Just saw a video of some Youtube F1 theory guy sayin' he believes Ferrari has a gearbox issue. That's why they have to raise the car up for saturday and sunday. It was an issue which ended Hamilton's running in the last day of tests, again he had issues in the race and even customer teams had problems based on what he was saying. He compared speeds and minisectors and in Q3 we were slower in the last sector than we were in FP2. I don't know if I believe him and don't have time to check the data so I'm just selling what I bought.

**Dune** · 17th March 2025, 19:00

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Just saw a video of some Youtube F1 theory guy sayin' he believes Ferrari has a gearbox issue. That's why they have to raise the car up for saturday and sunday. It was an issue which ended Hamilton's running in the last day of tests, again he had issues in the race and even customer teams had problems based on what he was saying. He compared speeds and minisectors and in Q3 we were slower in the last sector than we were in FP2. I don't know if I believe him and don't have time to check the data so I'm just selling what I bought.

They were slower in S3 because they raised the car. It has to be a one time problem, otherwise they should stop participating in F1.

**FerrariF60** · 17th March 2025, 19:02

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Just saw a video of some Youtube F1 theory guy sayin' he believes Ferrari has a gearbox issue. That's why they have to raise the car up for saturday and sunday. It was an issue which ended Hamilton's running in the last day of tests, again he had issues in the race and even customer teams had problems based on what he was saying. He compared speeds and minisectors and in Q3 we were slower in the last sector than we were in FP2. I don't know if I believe him and don't have time to check the data so I'm just selling what I bought.

how would a gearbox issue affect the last part of the lap in Q3?? that just doesn't make sense
and why would we have to raise the car up for Sat and Sun???

**Dune** · 17th March 2025, 19:04

Originally Posted by FerrariF60

how would a gearbox issue affect the last part of the lap in Q3?? that just doesn't make sense
and why would we have to raise the car up for Sat and Sun???

It could be the reason to raise the ride height though.

**Kyss4k** · 17th March 2025, 19:06

Originally Posted by FerrariF60

how would a gearbox issue affect the last part of the lap in Q3?? that just doesn't make sense
and why would we have to raise the car up for Sat and Sun???

Not the gearbox. The gearbox was the reason for raising the car up. When the car was running low how Ferrari intended, the gearbox was getting beaten up badly due to what he is saying. So they had to raise it up and lost a lot of performance

**FerrariF60** · 17th March 2025, 19:12

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Not the gearbox. The gearbox was the reason for raising the car up. When the car was running low how Ferrari intended, the gearbox was getting beaten up badly due to what he is saying. So they had to raise it up and lost a lot of performance

wow, if that's the case, that's a major problem
how would they go about fixing that?? like having to redesign the gearbox or the gearbox casing to make it stronger??
that could take some time....unless they're already working on it as they would have found out about this problem in Bahrain testing, one would think.

**Dune** · 17th March 2025, 21:54

Originally Posted by FerrariF60

wow, if that's the case, that's a major problem
how would they go about fixing that?? like having to redesign the gearbox or the gearbox casing to make it stronger??
that could take some time....unless they're already working on it as they would have found out about this problem in Bahrain testing, one would think.

If that’s the case, they would have to bring an updated gearbox latest in Japan, otherwise the season would be pretty much over. But we are speculating.

**aroutis** · 18th March 2025, 09:48

I don't get the gearbox theory. Why didn't they get it at the preseason testing and it developed as an issue at australia?

**stefa** · 18th March 2025, 10:28

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Just saw a video of some Youtube F1 theory guy sayin' he believes Ferrari has a gearbox issue. That's why they have to raise the car up for saturday and sunday. It was an issue which ended Hamilton's running in the last day of tests, again he had issues in the race and even customer teams had problems based on what he was saying. He compared speeds and minisectors and in Q3 we were slower in the last sector than we were in FP2. I don't know if I believe him and don't have time to check the data so I'm just selling what I bought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef17jiC5KTg&t=149s

**Kyss4k** · 18th March 2025, 10:32

Originally Posted by aroutis

I don't get the gearbox theory. Why didn't they get it at the preseason testing and it developed as an issue at australia?

His theory (Stefa posted the exact video) is, that we did geit it during pre season test. It's the reason why Lewis didn't finish his race sim at the last day.

**aroutis** · 18th March 2025, 10:55

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

His theory (Stefa posted the exact video) is, that we did geit it during pre season test. It's the reason why Lewis didn't finish his race sim at the last day.

Quite honestly I don't really buy this theory.
But I doubt that we'll get to know what is going on. Which frankly is fine with me, as long as they resolve the issue and get the car to competitive levels.

**patrese86** · 18th March 2025, 10:59

Hamilton mentioned a gear sync issue in the race. Could just be a coincidence though.

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 16:50

Originally Posted by FerrariF60

So fellow tifosi, the first race of the years is done and dusted.
Can't say that i'm NOT disappointed, but as others have mentioned here, it is a totally brand new car from the ground up and we gotta give the team the benefit of the doubt.

we'll see how we'll stack up against the likes of Mclaren, red bull and merc after 4-5 races at which the tracks will be more representative compared to OZ which is not really a race track per say....and we've never shown there in previous years....

also it is worth mentioning that this weekend is a SPRINT format, and is gonna be that much crucial to get the set up right because of ONLY one free practice session.

Cheers boys and gals and as always

FORZA FERRARI!!!

good post

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 16:52

Originally Posted by aroutis

Quite honestly I don't really buy this theory.
But I doubt that we'll get to know what is going on. Which frankly is fine with me, as long as they resolve the issue and get the car to competitive levels.

in 2022 weren't the engines suffering from reliability issues due to being purposed?

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 16:56

we're discussing this in multiple threads so now my thoughts are all disjointed

for whatever reason they raised the ride height ( plank wear, gearbox reliability )

it could be track specific, because even Bahrain is fairly bumpy

but then this will be an issue at all street circuits. and it could destroy the season

if it's the gearbox it's really alarming if Hamilton had the issue in the race even after raising the car.

**jgonzalesm6** · 18th March 2025, 17:02

Originally Posted by Cavallino

we're discussing this in multiple threads so now my thoughts are all disjointed

for whatever reason they raised the ride height ( plank wear, gearbox reliability )

it could be track specific, because even Bahrain is fairly bumpy

but then this will be an issue at all street circuits. and it could destroy the season

if it's the gearbox it's really alarming if Hamilton had the issue in the race even after raising the car.

So this would affect race pace? (if true about the ride height)

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 17:04

Originally Posted by jgonzalesm6

So this would affect race pace? (if true about the ride height)

yes, but they didn't make the decision to raise the ride height until Saturday.

so, the Friday race sims reflects a truer potential of the car.

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 17:06

also, pointing out, that changes to the gearbox can be made for reliability purposes, if it can be solved without a redesign.

if it even comes to that, hopefully the can solve it with a setup change

or even better it is just track specific and we just need to get it sorted by the time we go to the next bumpy street track.

which actually might be Bahrain

**jgonzalesm6** · 18th March 2025, 17:17

Originally Posted by Cavallino

yes, but they didn't make the decision to raise the ride height until Saturday.

so, the Friday race sims reflects a truer potential of the car.

So this is what you posted a couple of days ago. Now, I never said what you posted but here it is.

Originally Posted by Cavallino

and as Leclerc noted, the wet has been a weakness of the Ferrari car DNA for quite some time.

but nah, i'm wrong, Jgonzalez is right, our true pace is worse than Sauber.

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 17:24

Originally Posted by jgonzalesm6

So this is what you posted a couple of days ago. Now, I never said what you posted but here it is.

yeah, i think that's right, Ferrari's true pace is worse than Sauber.

I'm just coping with all this gearbox stuff. You're absolutely right with that analysis that Ferrari is slower than Sauber.

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 17:24

Originally Posted by Cavallino

yeah, i think that's right, Ferrari's true pace is worse than Sauber.

I'm just coping with all this gearbox stuff. You're absolutely right with that analysis that Ferrari is slower than Sauber.

i think Nani and Kyss4k willl agree with you, you guys are the best of the best here.

Especially when it comes to pit strategy.

**FerrariF60** · 18th March 2025, 17:26

Originally Posted by Cavallino

i think Nani and Kyss4k willl agree with you, you guys are the best of the best here.

Especially when it comes to pit strategy.

**paolo lalli** · 18th March 2025, 17:27

Apart from a shocking strategy call which potentially cost ferrar a better finishing places we will never know any major issue which may or may not be an Achilles heel with the Sf25.this is under wraps, unless ferrari themselves reveal the issue.Time will tell but it's fun speculating.

**jgonzalesm6** · 18th March 2025, 17:30

Originally Posted by Cavallino

yeah, i think that's right, Ferrari's true pace is worse than Sauber.

I'm just coping with all this gearbox stuff. You're absolutely right with that analysis that Ferrari is slower than Sauber.

Well, I never said "Ferrari is slower than Sauber" due to Ferrari's race pace at that specific race. There was also pit strategy from Ferrari that messed up both drivers as well.

Originally Posted by Cavallino

i think Nani and Kyss4k willl agree with you, you guys are the best of the best here.

Especially when it comes to pit strategy.

Thanks

**Cavallino** · 18th March 2025, 17:38

Originally Posted by jgonzalesm6

Well, I never said "Ferrari is slower than Sauber" due to Ferrari's race pace at that specific race. There was also pit strategy from Ferrari that messed up both drivers as well.

Thanks

good that's a relief.

go read some of my posts about this gearbox/ride height issue.

they're all very good.