After a hugely disappointing start to the 2025 Formula 1 season for Ferrari, Sky Sport Italia’s Vicky Piria assesses the mood among the tifosi ahead of the team’s return home for this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Following a strong finish to 2024 and the off-season arrival of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, Ferrari were expected to mount challenges for both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles.
Instead, reigning constructors’ champions McLaren have been in a league of their own, with Red Bull and Mercedes putting up far more fight than Ferrari over the opening six rounds of the season.
Concerningly for Ferrari, their worst display yet came last time out in Miami, with Hamilton finishing in eighth a minute behind winner Oscar Piastri, and his team-mate Charles Leclerc just three seconds better off in seventh.
It is then, perhaps, not the most ideal timing, from a Ferrari perspective, for the first of their two home races on the 2025 calendar, with Imola hosting this weekend before the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September.
Car changes questioned as high expectations not met
Former W Series driver and Sky Sport Italia pundit Piria, believes heightened expectations ahead of the season have made the team’s slow start to the campaign even more painful.
She said: “The excitement was huge, but then everything kind of got worse and worse because Miami was pretty bad for Ferrari. The gap between McLaren and Lewis was a minute, so that definitely was something that Italians did not expect.
“I think Fred (Vasseur), since he started his journey in Ferrari, he’s always been really careful of keeping expectations down to earth. But this year it was different, everybody was really excited.
“Now everybody is obviously a bit disappointed.”
Ferrari notably overhauled their 2024 car despite ending the season extremely strongly, leading some to question in recent weeks whether taking a more developmental approach to last year’s model would have been a better option.
Piria said: “The talk of the people is, ‘you finished the season on a high last year, why did you go along, and completely change the car?’
“The switch from push rod to pull rod, and they changed a lot of the rear suspension, which is probably the hard point for Ferrari at the moment, having that rear really cling on the ground because they’re really slippery. There’s a lot of oversteer going on.”
‘The tifosi passion is too strong for booing’
While there is frustration at Ferrari’s start to the season, Piria believes the tifosi will arrive in Imola full of hope that a reversal of their recent form is possible.
She said: “At the end of the day, the passion is so strong that I don’t believe people will be booing Ferrari. People will be definitely cheering Ferrari and hoping for something to happen.
“The season is still long. If we think about it, it was around this time of year in 2024 that McLaren really changed the game, in a way, so they definitely think that something is still possible.
“There will be frustration. I mean, Italians are known to be really emotional. I’m the first one to be really emotional. So that definitely will come up.
“If you think about Lewis Hamilton’s sprint win in China, his podium in Miami. It takes a lot of time for the tifosi to really get angry and disappointed, but it does not take a lot of time for them to regain their hopes again.
“And I really think that if these things don’t work, it just takes one race for them to really go ahead and really celebrate.”
‘Last chance to avoid focus to switching to 2026’
Just about every team on the grid are expected to bring significant upgrades to Imola, with the first European race of the season the usual arrival point for new parts.
This season’s Imola updates are seen as even more important than usual, with major changes to the regulations next year meaning teams not competing for victories are likely to shift their resources and focus to 2026.
Piria said: “There are obviously some upgrades. I think the feeling is that everybody will really rush into the upgrades in this part of the year because, if you wait, it’s probably too late.
“And later on in the season, I think your focus and energy needs to be switched to 2026. So, it’s really these next two, three races that teams, and especially Ferrari, will bring upgrades.
“It really is important that these upgrades work because if the upgrades work and they get closer to the leaders, then obviously you can continue investing on this year. But otherwise, I think you need to switch and look at 2026. And that’s what Ferrari will have to do.
“That’s why Imola will be important. Imola and Barcelona really will be two really pivotal proving grounds to understand if the focus needs to stay on 2025 or just switch straight away to 2026.
“Because, honestly, if they’re so far off in Barcelona, then probably it’s better they focus on next year.”
‘A lot of pressure on Vasseur’
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has enjoyed a largely successful tenure since taking on the role at the start of 2023, but is likely to come under increasing pressure should his squad’s struggles persist.
Piria said: “If we think about it, this is the first year that it’s actually 100 per cent Fred. He’s got his technical team, he’s worked on his car, he’s got the drivers he’s chosen, and things are not working the way they’re supposed to work.
“We’ve seen with this F1 car that it really takes something small for it to underperform or to perform really well. So, I do think still there’s some chance for them to pull themselves up.
“It’s something that we see a lot in Italian football. As soon as a team underperforms, they go ahead and change the trainer. So, for sure there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Fred.
“There was in the past on Mattia Binotto when he was underperforming, so knowing the tifosi, there will be. But then again, we’re talking about really just a few tenths of a second, and it doesn’t take much to change the picture.
“But if the situation that we saw in Miami goes ahead for the next races, then definitely there will be pressure on Fred.”
‘Kimi-mania’ to provide welcome distraction?
There has been some Italian success for the motorsport-mad nation to enjoy, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli making an encouraging start to his debut campaign with Mercedes.
The 18-year-old claimed his maiden F1 pole position in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint and has won the hearts of many Italians as he prepares for his first home race.
Piria said: “There’s a lot, a lot, a lot of excitement for Kimi. I think Italians did not expect him to be this fast, to be also this charismatic, to also really shows his Italian origins.
“He’s taking lasagna for the whole team on Thursday for them to eat. That is something that Italians will love. I think that a lot of focus is switching onto Kimi.
“I think there was anticipation for Kimi, but I think the tifosi did not absolutely expect Kimi to be so fast and so charismatic. So now it’s just like a Kimi-mania, especially after his pole position in Miami.
“This will be a really important race for Kimi because he knows the track really well. He did quite a lot of testing here with the F1 car last year. It’s a track he knows well. it’s a track he feels good at, and he’s coming from Miami where he knows that he felt good.
“So I think there’s going to be even another step in him being fast and probably challenging George (Russell) in some way. So, I really think that there will be a lot of expectations for that.”
F1’s European season begins with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
