Ferrari could switch to Red Bull’s F1 suspension concept for Hamilton’s arrival

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.

“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…