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Formula 1

F1 rookies Antonelli and Bearman share amusing driving test struggles

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Formula 1 2025 rookies Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman have shared amusing anecdotes about their adventures obtaining a road drivers’ license.

F1 may be the pinnacle of motorsports, and one of the ultimate driving challenges, but one bizarre quirk is that drivers technically don’t need a road drivers’ license to be able to race in the series.

At 18, Mercedes debutant Antonelli is the latest driver to first qualify for an FIA superlicence before passing his actual driving test on the road. And while the young Italian is used to dealing with pressure at the highest levels of racing, that didn’t prevent him from feeling shaky before passing his exams.

“I was really nervous,” Antonelli admitted in a conversation with the BBC. “That week was like hell because I was really studying and practising because I knew I only had that shot at the end of the day.

“Because then the preparations start, then the season starts and I had no time to do the driving test again. So I was super happy to have passed straight away.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Reserve Driver, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“I made one little mistake on the theory, but I had three mistakes allowed, so it was fine.”

Making himself even more relatable to us mere mortals, Antonelli said he particularly struggled with parking. “The hardest thing was the parallel parking and reverse parking,” he smiled. “I mean, I’m not used to parking an F1 car! Definitely that was the toughest part.

“I’m super happy to have passed the driving test and finally I can drive on my own, and I don’t need to ask my mom to bring me to places. So, I can say I got my superlicence before actually getting my drivers’ license, which is crazy.”

Fellow 2025 rookie Oliver Bearman managed to get his driving test out of the way early when he turned 17, but not at the first time of asking.

“I passed the second time,” the Haas driver said, much to the amusement of the press at his F1 75 press conference. “I shouldn’t have said that…”

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Getty Images

“I didn’t stop at a stop sign. I didn’t burn through; I slowed down and I was crawling, but you are supposed to stop. We don’t have stop signs at a race track so that was my first sighting of a stop sign…”

“But typical me, or typical racing driver probably, I thought I could pass my tests without any lessons, so that’s probably where I went wrong. After that I took a few lessons. But I’ve been driving since 2022, so I’m a very experienced driver now.”

Antonelli is in good company, because four-time world champion Max Verstappen was a ‘veteran’ of 14 F1 grands prix before obtaining his license when he turned 18. And like Bearman, the Dutchman too passed after the odd hiccup.

At the time, Verstappen had to fly back from the Japanese Grand Prix to Belgium to take his test in between his racing commitments. He recalled in an interview with The Times last year that he got into a bit of an argument with his instructor.

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“The examiner told me to go right and I went left. Then I didn’t give way [to pedestrians],” Verstappen said. “He was not very happy. I argued with him because I thought they were not actually at the crossing. So I was, like, ‘But they’re not there yet, so why should I stop?'”

“Luckily [I passed]. It would be quite embarrassing if I hadn’t. I think he was nice to me.”

In this article

Filip Cleeren

Formula 1

Oliver Bearman

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Ferrari

Mercedes

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Formula 1

Ferrari explains the changes to its 2025 F1 car

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Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took Ferrari’s new SF-25 out for a shakedown at the team’s Fiorano track yesterday. While it doesn’t look radically different from last year’s car, the 2025 machine wears some major upgrades under the (not entirely exciting) livery, because the SF-24 had no more room to grow.

Complicating matters, team principal Fred Vasseur is keeping an eye on how aggressively the team develops the 2025 car over the course of the season. When engineers will shift over to preparing for the major 2026 rules overhaul will depend in part on whether the SF-25 puts Ferrari in a position to win.

The headline update from the SF-24 to the SF-25 is a change in front suspension, from push-rod to pull-rod. That’s just the “tip of the iceberg,” though, according to relatively new technical director Loic Serra.

“Most of the car is new, and it’s not necessarily noticeable to the eye from the outside, but it’s those parts that have the biggest influence,” he explained to Automoto.it. “We have changed many of the internal components, but the philosophy is the same. “

Lewis Hamilton shaking down the SF-25 at Fiorano

Lewis Hamilton shaking down the SF-25 at Fiorano

Photo by: Davide Cavazza

As Serra explains, last year’s SF-24 had no more room for improvement. The suspension shift, along with what seeming allusions to a revamped floor, should give the Scuderia space to battle McLaren (which unveiled its own ambitious development approach last week with its MCL39).

“The main target with the SF-25 was to find room to push on aerodynamic development, and in what will be the upgrades that will come later in the season,” he explained. “As the technical regulations are in their final year, with these cars it’s all about the details. “

Those details can make a big difference, as Ferrari learned when it suffered a performance dip after a poor-performing midseason upgrade last year. The team bounced back to overtake Red Bull and sneak within 14 points of stealing the constructor’s championship from McLaren. Serra calculated the average deficit last year at 30 milliseconds, prompting an all-in approach with the SF-25, with hopes of taking a constructor’s trophy back to Maranello for the first time since 2008. 

Of course, 2026’s massive rule changes loom, and team principal Fred Vasseur knows the team needs to focus on the bigger picture. He’s already thinking about when work on the SF-25 will need to give way to next year’s car.

Charles Leclerc in the SF-25

Charles Leclerc in the SF-25

Photo by: Ferrari

“At some point in the season a choice will have to be made between the 2026 project and the development of the 2025 car, a choice that will be dictated by where we are in the championship standings,” said Vasseur. “After the first four or five races we will evaluate the situation and choices will be made on how to distribute the available resources…Probably in the summer we will all be focused on 2026.”

Vasseur’s decision will be harder if Ferrari’s in the middle of a heated contest for the constructor’s title.

“I expect a season like the previous one, with four teams capable of winning races and aiming for the championship,” said Vasseur. “It will be a good battle.”

In this article

Filip Cleeren

Formula 1

Frederic Vasseur

Ferrari

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Formula 1

Hamilton in no doubt Ferrari switch was the right move after SF-25 debut

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Lewis Hamilton has been left in no doubt that he has made the right decision to join Ferrari.

The seven-time world champion was speaking after his first drive in Ferrari’s challenger for 2025 at a shakedown run at the team’s test track in Fiorano.

Hamilton, who lit up the F1 75 livery launch in London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday evening, revealed he has tried to integrate himself into the Italian team by living in his motorhome, which is parked at the team’s Maranello factory.

When asked if he thought he had made the right move having driven this season’s Ferrari, he said: “100%. I don’t have the slightest doubt or question in my head. I’m in the right place at the right time and it’s a great privilege to be here, to join this team and to work with everyone to try to build and continue the great historical tradition of this team.

“Every day has been exciting. Even last night, walking on that stage [at the F1 75 livery event] dressed in red was something totally new for me.

“To be able to meet and experience the fans is something very different doing it as an opponent or doing it as a Ferrari driver.

“To begin a journey together with them and the team is something that left me speechless.”

Watch: F175 was bold and risky – but was it successful?

Hamilton’s wave of positivity comes after a winter of readjusting to life with the Italian team. The 40-year-old has been rejuvenated by the move and is now adjusting to the new challenge.

When asked how different driving the Ferrari was to his old Mercedes cars, he added: “Ferrari is very different. From the moment you put on the suit and enter the garage, put on the helmet and enter the cockpit, you feel that incredible passion.

“It’s all exciting and thrilling. It has an incredible history with this team, and as a kid it was a dream for me to be able to race for Ferrari, and I still pinch myself to be able to believe that it’s really happening. I have so many expectations.”

Hamilton had previously driven a 2022 Ferrari at Fiorano in January before taking a 2023 F1 car around Barcelona during a three-day private test, where he also crashed.

However, in his short spell at the team he has said he has seen enough to know they have “all the ingredients to win”.

Hamilton said: “From seeing the passion, everything under one roof, which I’ve never experienced before, this team has absolutely every ingredient to win.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Getty Images

“But we’re also aware we have to continue to work. We have to improve and elevate everywhere – not everywhere but in certain areas, and I have no doubt that we can do that.

“I have genuinely loved every day I have been here. It’s a place you genuinely don’t really want to leave in the day. Everything’s here. Even my motorhome is here so I don’t ever leave!”

Hamilton was joined by his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who said the Brit was joining the team “at the right time”.

He added: “Lewis joining the team has been a big boost and has been amazing in so many areas. I feel like the team is very calm and clear in what is the direction to work in and not being affected by everything going on in the team.

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“We had a good car but it needed more performance, and that is where we focused on this car. We focused on small things in every area.”

Hamilton was also asked about his new team-mate, who joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016. He said: “Charles is very embedded in this team. He is very fast and I am completely aware of that.

“It is not going to be easy to beat him, but we will work together and have some great races, I hope.”

Photos from the Ferrari Shakedown

In this article

Ben Hunt

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

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Formula 1

Hamilton in no doubt Ferrari switch was the right move

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Lewis Hamilton has been left in no doubt that he has made the right decision to join Ferrari.

The seven-time world champion was speaking after his first drive in Ferrari’s challenger for 2025 at a shakedown run at the team’s test track in Fiorano.

Hamilton, who lit up the F1 75 livery launch in London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday evening, revealed he has tried to integrate himself into the Italian team by living in his motorhome, which is parked at the team’s Maranello factory.

When asked if he thought he had made the right move having driven this season’s Ferrari, he said: “100%. I don’t have the slightest doubt or question in my head. I’m in the right place at the right time and it’s a great privilege to be here, to join this team and to work with everyone to try to build and continue the great historical tradition of this team.

“Every day has been exciting. Even last night, walking on that stage [at the F1 75 livery event] dressed in red was something totally new for me.

“To be able to meet and experience the fans is something very different doing it as an opponent or doing it as a Ferrari driver.

“To begin a journey together with them and the team is something that left me speechless.”

Watch: F175 was bold and risky – but was it successful?

Hamilton’s wave of positivity comes after a winter of readjusting to life with the Italian team. The 40-year-old has been rejuvenated by the move and is now adjusting to the new challenge.

When asked how different driving the Ferrari was to his old Mercedes cars, he added: “Ferrari is very different. From the moment you put on the suit and enter the garage, put on the helmet and enter the cockpit, you feel that incredible passion.

“It’s all exciting and thrilling. It has an incredible history with this team, and as a kid it was a dream for me to be able to race for Ferrari, and I still pinch myself to be able to believe that it’s really happening. I have so many expectations.”

Hamilton had previously driven a 2022 Ferrari at Fiorano in January before taking a 2023 F1 car around Barcelona during a three-day private test, where he also crashed.

However, in his short spell at the team he has said he has seen enough to know they have “all the ingredients to win”.

Hamilton said: “From seeing the passion, everything under one roof, which I’ve never experienced before, this team has absolutely every ingredient to win.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Getty Images

“But we’re also aware we have to continue to work. We have to improve and elevate everywhere – not everywhere but in certain areas, and I have no doubt that we can do that.

“I have genuinely loved every day I have been here. It’s a place you genuinely don’t really want to leave in the day. Everything’s here. Even my motorhome is here so I don’t ever leave!”

Hamilton was joined by his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who said the Brit was joining the team “at the right time”.

He added: “Lewis joining the team has been a big boost and has been amazing in so many areas. I feel like the team is very calm and clear in what is the direction to work in and not being affected by everything going on in the team.

Read Also:

“We had a good car but it needed more performance, and that is where we focused on this car. We focused on small things in every area.”

Hamilton was also asked about his new team-mate, who joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016. He said: “Charles is very embedded in this team. He is very fast and I am completely aware of that.

“It is not going to be easy to beat him, but we will work together and have some great races, I hope.”

In this article

Ben Hunt

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

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Formula 1

The key changes behind Ferrari’s evolutionary SF-25

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London on Tuesday night, Fiorano by Wednesday morning; Ferrari’s key personnel either took a private plane directly from the F175 launch event at the O2 Arena (significantly likely), or hotfooted it to Stansted for the Ryanair flight to Bologna.

Actually, that eventuality might be a little less likely… can you imagine Lewis Hamilton, sitting uncomfortably on the blue leatherette seats, ordering a bag of Hula Hoops with a furtive eyebrow twitch at the £2.99 price tag? Sadly, no. 

In any case, the proper SF-25 broke cover at Ferrari’s private test circuit on Wednesday morning, directly after its livery was revealed at the O2 on Tuesday. And, as was the case with its livery, there were generally few surprises – aside from the equivalent of one big white stripe down the engine cover.

Ferrari has made the switch to pull-rod suspension at the front for 2025, having stuck to the push-rod formula last season to largely great effect. This has prompted a reshuffle of the other suspension components to accommodate the change in direction here, particularly with a reangled upper wishbone that – conversely to the design direction taken by McLaren here – has had its rear leg raised upwards.

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In response, Ferrari has a low wheel hub mounting for its pull-rod and, curiously, the lower wishbone stacked on top of the steering arms either side. 

It’s an all-new front suspension package, and Ferrari must feel that its new layout can put the car in the right dynamic window for the variety of corners needed. The positioning of the wishbones lays out the platform when, for example, a team is trying to mitigate the amount of dive, but it also depends on the location of the centre of gravity. In switching to a pull-rod, Ferrari theoretically brings that down slightly as the rockers move to the bottom of the chassis.

Ferrari has switched to a pull-rod front suspension for 2025

Ferrari has switched to a pull-rod front suspension for 2025

Photo by: Davide Cavazza

In its press release, Ferrari stated that the “thinking behind this change in architecture was to clean up the airflow around the car, while also giving greater scope for further aero development, which had pretty much been exhausted with the previous iteration”.

Although this is a vague outline, the team nonetheless conceded that it had squeezed the last drop from its previous design and that Loic Serra’s new design direction, although evolutionary, was not afraid to ring the changes.

There are also visible changes to the SF-25’s sidepods, particularly around the inlet. Ferrari switched to the ‘overbite’ layout part-way through 2024 with an Imola update, and has stuck to the format albeit with a McLaren-like treatment to the inlet shape. What is seen is a conventional semi-elliptical inlet with an extruded upper overwing – as labelled in the images.

 Although many of the changes appear subtle when viewed against its predecessor, Ferrari has billed its SF-25 as a top-to-tail evolution of the previous formula

This bends upwards at the tip to place the vortex shed from the exposed edge, which should help energise the airflow passing over the top of the sidepods. In this area, the small letterbox inlets remain along the edge of the chassis, which are intermittently theorised to be both part of the overall cooling system and an inlet to duct airflow elsewhere onto the car for aerodynamic purposes. 

With the new inlet ‘overwing’, the mirrors have also received new mountings to contribute to the overall sidepod surface flow, and the outer floor fence has been equipped with a handful of exposed corners to further energise the airflow travelling around the sidepod undercut.

Teams have experimented with this over the past couple of years to make use of an area that is heavily restricted by the regulations, as the 2022-spec cars were intended as a sea-change from the overly complex bargeboard developments that pervaded in this area. This feeds refined sidepods, which are a lot smoother in form versus last year’s ‘pods.

The sidepod design is a key difference between the SF-24 and SF-25

The sidepod design is a key difference between the SF-24 and SF-25

Photo by: Davide Cavazza

Ferrari has retained the ‘cobra’ wings that sit either side of the cockpit, as it made use of a small area in the defined regulatory bounding boxes to help condition the airflow emerging from the front of the car and turning it around the engine cover. This aft area is in a similar layout to last season, albeit with fewer of the cooling louvres in the current spec.

That being said, these louvres are usually implemented with interchangeable panels that change from race to race, and 10-11C conditions in Italy don’t necessarily require the full-bore outlets to be used. The bodywork flares out at the back for heat rejection purposes, sitting above the rear-end channel that is opened by the continued use of a trough on top of the sidepods. There are also small openings along the centreline of the car at the rear of the engine cover, which can pull further hot air out of the car.

Interestingly, the rear wing shown at Fiorano has a distinct V-shaped trough in the middle – teams like to load the inboard section of the wing as this is the most effective area at generating downforce, and shallowing out the outboard parts is an effective way at trimming drag without too much of a downforce penalty. The upper wing element is also cut away from the mainplane, as has become a recent trend to ensure the wing tips can be used to generate vorticity to improve its effectiveness. 

At the rear, Ferrari has continued to use a pull-rod suspension layout rather than make the leap to a push-rod. Moving the rockers and springs to the top side of the gearbox usually ensures that the team can make use of more space for the diffuser to provide the expansion of airflow, boosting downforce output, but Ferrari evidently feels that it does not necessarily need to reinvent the wheel to do so. 

Although many of the changes appear subtle when viewed against its predecessor, Ferrari has billed its SF-25 as a top-to-tail evolution of the previous formula. The team developed well during the middle portion of the season, as its trajectory brought it into a constructors’ championship battle.

If it is to go one better, it needs to retain that strength throughout the season – and hope that the new Prancing Horse does not suffer similar mid-season development pitfalls.

Will the SF-25 provide Ferrari its first F1 title of any kind since 2008?

Will the SF-25 provide Ferrari its first F1 title of any kind since 2008?

Photo by: Davide Cavazza

In this article

Jake Boxall-Legge

Formula 1

Ferrari

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