Ferrari ‘likely’ making secret change to Lewis Hamilton’s car to avoid one ‘hazard’ from their Belgian Grand Prix update

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Ferrari are aiming to set themselves up to enjoy a stronger second half to the 2025 F1 season, with upgrades now expected at the Belgian Grand Prix and the Hungarian GP.

The Scuderia kicked off this campaign believing they could battle McLaren for the F1 drivers’ championship and constructors’ title, having been the Woking squad’s closest rival last term. Yet while Ferrari sit second in the teams’ standings, they trail the papaya crew by 238 points.

While Oscar Piastri leads the drivers’ standings on 234 points, Charles Leclerc also only sits fifth on 119 and Lewis Hamilton is sixth on 103 after the first 12 of the 24 rounds in the 2025 F1 season. Ferrari are even the only outfit among F1’s top four crews yet to win a Grand Prix.

So, Ferrari will debut a rear suspension upgrade at the Belgian GP this weekend, having held a positive test masked as a filming day at Mugello last Thursday. Leclerc did not notice much of a difference, but Hamilton is quite happy with Ferrari’s rear suspension upgrade’s impact.

Ferrari ‘likely’ changed the dampers to maximise their Belgian GP rear suspension upgrade

Ferrari technical director Loic Serra oversaw the design of the rear suspension update set to be used at the Belgian GP, which changed the mounting point for the front wishbone to the gearbox. Ferrari hope to debut a power steering upgrade in Hungary next weekend, as well.

The mounting point for the front wishbone is the most obvious difference between Ferrari’s old and new rear suspension set-ups. But Mark Hughes has told the official F1 website that Ferrari ‘quite likely’ also made another change that is ‘not visible’ from outside of the SF-25.

READ MORE: The most successful F1 teams and engine manufacturers at the Belgian GP

Hughes expects Ferrari have also made changes to the dampers to further help them control the rate of change in the car’s ride height. The previous set-up ‘was not powerful enough’ to let Ferrari run the SF-25 as low to the ground as they need to maximise their car’s potential.

But, by changing the dampers, Ferrari can avoid the ‘hazard’ of the rear suspension upgrade allowing for a static ride height that would wear out the underfloor planks on Hamilton and Leclerc’s cars. Hamilton was disqualified from the 2025 Chinese GP due to wear to his plank.

Ferrari are desperate for their rear suspension upgrade to unlock the SF-25’s potential

Ferrari gave their drivers 100km each amid the filming day at Mugello last week to test their rear suspension upgrade before its debut at the Belgian GP. But Ferrari used different Pirelli tyres from the ones that they will now race on at Spa, where there will even be an F1 Sprint.

Leclerc did not feel a big difference from Ferrari’s rear suspension upgrade at Mugello, too, but cautious optimism spread in their garage. The Scuderia are desperate for the update to instantly work as running the SF-25 lower to the ground is crucial to unlocking its potential.

Improving the predictability of the rear end of the SF-25 will also be key to helping Hamilton adapt to Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car, having struggled to gain a consistent feeling from it so far. The 40-year-old Briton is still yet to secure a single Grand Prix podium with the Scuderia, as well.