Ferrari, lots of hype for 2025 but the last word will, as always, be up to the “cassazione” track

In an increasingly English-speaking Formula 1, with England becoming the capital of the world of the top class, it is right to use the English word hype to describe the expectation of 2025 by Ferrari. Hype, Italianized waiting for those who don't know English, is the feeling that the Ferrari people feel in view of the next championship.

The recent statements by Frederic Vasseur, pronounced by the Ferrari team principal on the occasion of the usual Christmas lunch with the press, leave no room for doubts or interpretations: the Cavallino team is aiming for victory in 2025.

There is no more concise phrase than this to underline the Rossa's objective for the coming year. Last season left us a legacy of an excellent overall championship contested by the SF-24 which, without the technical-performance amnesia shown in the summer races, could have really removed the zero from the constructors' titles that has now accompanied Maranello for many too many years.

The victory objective will pass through an authentic revolution of the single-seater which, as reported by Vasseur, will be 99% different from the previous car. A choice that could appear to go against the trend shown on the track, after the summer break, from the last Prancing Horse car to compete for the title with McLaren until the last race.

In all likelihood, to embrace this choice of absolute break with the recent past, the SF-24 has reached that maximum evolution in a regulatory cycle that will end in 2025 and therefore in Maranello they are looking for alternative and different ways to aim for victory. There is anticipation in seeing the new technical director Loic Serra at work, already an integral part of the 2025 project.

Serra, as well as Jerome d'Ambrosio, the team principal's new right-hand man (they were present at the lunch with the press for what represented the first public outing in red), form two of the pillars on which the Vasseur-branded Ferrari is based.

Waiting for the main course: Lewis Hamilton. There is less and less to go until his debut in red, at least the unofficial one which will take place in Fiorano in the next few weeks at the wheel of a Red from the past, of Hamilton in the red Cavallino tracksuit.

Only a few years ago this scenario seemed unlikely, if not impossible. Instead, Sir Lewis wanted to start again from Maranello to chase his eighth world championship. Ferrari, with the choice of this sporting marriage, has taken on a great responsibility towards the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1, in a true historical/iconic union aimed at reviving those glories of the past that around Maranello they have not been celebrated since 2007.

The last two world champions who arrived at the Maranello court with great expectations, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, did not have the opportunity to count on a competitive car in the long term but only intermittently. Who knows if Hamilton will be able to benefit from this “honor”.

But only Ferrari will be able to grant him this honor, in what the Ferrari fans dream of as a battle at the top between the two Cavallini Lewis and Charles in a red derby in an iridescent sauce. As always, the final word will be given by the motorsport “cassation”: the track.

The days pass and 2025 is approaching, with it the hype grows….

Piero Ladisa