Ferrari is F1’s oldest and most successful team. Though they haven’t won a world championship in 17 years, the fanfare for the men in Red is at an all-time high. With Lewis Hamilton‘s arrival and a consistently improving performance graph, the stage for them to challenge Red Bull in 2025 is set. However, the 2026 regulations reset has Max Verstappen & Co.’s entire attention. And their engine partner, Ford’s revelation, has threatened Ferrari revival.

Whenever there have been huge regulation changes, we have seen a clear shift of dominance from one team to the other. We have seen this happen during the turbo-hybrid era dominance of Mercedes and are witnessing the Red Bull dominance during the ground-effect era. With 2026 being the most important engine-related regulation in a long time, the team that figures out the perfect solution can dominate the years to follow.

With Ford joining as the new engine partner for Red Bull in 2026, the Milton-Keynes team looks to be in a formidable position as Ford promises to ace the 2026 regulations. This could potentially mean that the only chance of Ferrari taming Red Bull can happen only in 2025, or so says a Red Bull insider.

“It is absolutely true that at Ferrari they have the knowledge, all the people, and all that experience in a system that already works,” Ford’s global motorsports director, Mark Rushbrook, told Autosport. “So yes, they might have an advantage with that. But I would say that one of the things though where we have an advantage is the team that is working on the power unit for us, for 2026, is only working on the power unit for 2026. They are not working on the power units for today.”

A few weeks ago, Red Bull TP Christian Horner had claimed that their 2026 project’s “aggressive curve” was “hitting the targets”. Though he acknowledged that the energy drinks manufacturer has barely any experience in engine-making, unlike Ferrari, Rushbrook’s statements should put his mind at ease. However, Frederic Vasseur is not thinking that far. His sole focus is on turning around Ferrari’s current faring against Red Bull.

Frederic Vasseur strengthening the technical power of Ferrari for 2025 dominance

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has changed the face of the iconic team. With quick developments on their challenger, they got the closest to Red Bull in the ground-effect era. This was possible because of the pure willpower of the technical team as they constantly kept working on major technical upgrade packages. As we are expecting a major technical upgrade from Ferrari at the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Ferrari’s talent hunt has found a Mercedes person to further strengthen their technical team.

Per the X handle, @Autodromef1, the Prancing Horses have signed the Mercedes person Jerome d’Ambrosio as the Deputy Team Principal. d’Ambrosio was part of the Formula E team and headed the Mercedes Young Driver program. This role means that d’Ambrosio is not only going to report to Frederic Vasseur on the team’s progress but also going to head the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy.

This move also shows the different approach that Ferrari is willing to take in order to claim the top of the pecking order. The trust that Ferrari has put on such young talent is unlike Ferrari but Frederic Vasseur has time and again shown us that he is not the typical Ferrari person. The new signing goes to show the new wave at the Maranello team and this might help them revive the energy back in the team.

Though Red Bull’s dominance shell has finally been cracked by Ferrari, the team is not in a comfort zone. With too many moving parts, including the move of Lewis Hamilton to the red team, Ferrari needs a little bit of stability that can see them cruise past Red Bull in 2025.

Do you think Ferrari is on the right trajectory to take the Red Bull head-on in 2025? Will the gamble by Frederic Vasseur & co. pay off? Let us know in the comments below.