And in particular it could finally go down the route that world champion Red Bull has put to good use of having a pull-rod front suspension concept.

Ferrari has already managed to make significant progress this year with its SF-24, winning races and finding itself at a centre of a three-way fight with Red Bull and McLaren that could yet be for title glory.

But as teams get close to the limit of what is possible with the current rules set, it is getting ever harder to find the benefits that can make a difference in its battle for success.

A major development package it brought to the Imola Grand Prix delivered some good gains, while the next aero package is set for the British GP – having originally been scheduled for Hungary.

In the meantime, two more rear wings appear, after the high-load one that was run at Monaco. There will be a low drag version in Canada and then one that is best suited to medium speed circuits from Spain.

But the way that Ferrari is attacking improvements is changing, as team principal Fred Vasseur admitted this week that gains were much harder to realise.

“With the cost cap and the current regulation, you have to manage both sides and we will bring upgrades when we have something to bring,” he said.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“What you have to keep in mind is that you have a kind of convergence of performance and the development rate is much lower than it was two years ago. It means that each time that someone is bringing an upgrade, and I think it’s true for us, but it’s true for everybody, the gain is smaller than it was two years ago, and this is normal.”

The diminishing returns, and Ferrari’s desire not to make the most of the momentum the team is getting now, has fuelled some talk that Ferrari could be ready to be more aggressive with changes to its 2025 car than it might perhaps have been expected to months ago.

Work has already begun on next year’s challenger, with Vasseur stating that there were three current projects underway at Maranello.

“Part of the team is working on the next updates that we will see during this season, and another is already focused on next year’s single-seater,” he said. “We have already given the go-ahead to the 2025 car. Furthermore, work has already started some time ago on the 2026 power unit. With regards the chassis and aerodynamics, we can hypothesize a few concepts but nothing more given that there are no regulations yet.”

Speculation about the 2025 car has suggested that Ferrari could be willing to make some big changes with it, rather than go for a straight evolution of the SF-24 so that it did not waste any resources for the 2026 rules.

Sources have suggested that Ferrari’s designers have understood some key aspects that would deliver gains for the 2025 car and that may make a big difference in that tight fight with Red Bull and McLaren.

One area of interest is that, after years of doing its own thing, Ferrari could be poised for a switch to pull-rod front suspension – with an idea of getting ahead of the game on this aspect considering it would likely make the switch in 2026 anyway.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Red Bull and McLaren already have this configuration, with the design clearly having aerodynamic advantages in improving airflow around the front of the car and critically for the venturi tunnels underneath.

Revising the suspension in such a way would require an all-new chassis, as there would be the need for new attachments to the suspension arms and movement of the internal mechanisms.

Any decision to change suspension could also open the door for a change of driver position too, which could help improve weight distribution as the squad seeks to find gains in any area it can.

Ferrari’s potential move towards a more Red Bull style of front suspension comes as the team continues its efforts to lure Adrian Newey on board to help provide input for its 2026 car, once he is released from his current contract at the start of next year.

This year, Ferrari is alone in running a pull-rod rear suspension (customer team Haas takes its parts too), but is convinced there are no significant gains from having the push-rod concept other teams have in this area of the car.

Speaking earlier this year about why it did not copy other teams, Ferrari technical director Enrico Cardile said: “In reality, our rear suspension is a bit different in terms of top and lower wishbone distribution compared to a Red Bull one, to mention one team.

“We recorded good aero results moving towards this direction and when moving from pull-rod to push-rod, we didn’t measure a big advantage to justify some compromise in terms of weight or compliance. So, from there, we evolved our suspension, keeping the same layout.”

Hamilton announced earlier this year that he would be leaving Mercedes at the end of this season and joining Ferrari as Charles Leclerc’s team-mate for 2025.

Although Vasseur has so far been reluctant to talk much about Hamilton, out of respect for current driver Carlos Sainz, he has now offered some background of the reasons for his determination to lure him on board.

In an exclusive interview with Autosport, Vasseur said that Hamilton’s arrival brought gains that would start many months before he even sat in a car for the first time.

«The input of Lewis or another driver is not just about qualification lap time and so on,» said Vasseur.

«It’s the finality of the job. What we all collectively can see Saturday or Sunday, at the end of the day, the job of the driver is much wider.

«It’s starting sometimes six or eight months before the season, to be able to work on the next project, to bring his own experience, his own view on what we can do, or how we could do it and so on and so on.»

Vasseur believes that, with his organisation in its current guise still in its infancy, having Hamilton’s vast experience on board will be priceless in giving Ferrari direction.

«We are still a young team,» he added. «It’s not just a matter of age, but it’s a matter of experience together, and wins together.

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

«That means that we are quite green, or quite young, and to have someone into the loop with such a big background and such big experience will impact for sure.

«We have time to discuss this with Lewis and, for me, into the building process of the team — you want to have a long-term view and for the next cycle.

«I’m not speaking about ’24 or ’25, it’s about cycle and it’s where clearly, we have to do steps.

«We made some improvements already I think, compared to 12 months ago, to involve the drivers much earlier into the project and to build up the characteristic of the car with them.

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«I think we are going in the right direction. But for sure Lewis will add value.»

Hamilton secrets and Newey gossip

One of the other encouraging aspects Vasseur found about Ferrari’s signing of Hamilton was that the news did not leak from the team until the 11th hour.

Whereas previously Ferrari had been widely known for not being able to keep information within the confines of the Maranello factory walls, it was only on the morning of Hamilton’s announcements that the story properly hit the media.

«We had no leaks,» said Vasseur, who suggested that even the stories on the morning of the announcement had not come from Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, battles with Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

«I think it was done by purpose by someone from the UK,» he smiled.

He added: «I really appreciated that we are a small group, and we worked for months, and we are able to go until the end and had no leakage. It was a good one.»

Vasseur said one of the things he has addressed specifically since joining as team principal was stopping secrets from getting out.

«We had some leakages at the beginning when I joined, even before I joined because I understood in the press that I will go to Ferrari before I started the discussion with Ferrari.

«In the last six months, you had gossip in the press, but it was gossip and not real leaks from the team.

«There was the story with [Adrian] Newey seen in Bologna because Newey was going to Mugello [to test]. That’s not a leak!

«I don’t want to make any judgment on the past, but I can’t complain. I had more leaks at Renault, for example.

«Renault, I was saying something in the debrief, and then it was in that afternoon on the websites.»