The chassis was designed by Mattia Binotto, Simone Resta, Enrico Cardile, David Sanchez, and Rory Byrne, with Corrado Iotti leading the powertrain design. The SF70H featured a shark fin for the first time on a Ferrari since the F10 in 2010, and nose cone inlets not seen since the F2008 in 2008.
The car showed strong form in pre-season testing. At the Australian Grand Prix, Vettel qualified second and won after pitting for new tyres on lap 17 under a Virtual Safety Car — emerging in the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. It was Ferrari's first win since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix. Räikkönen finished fourth. The result ended a run of race weekends in which a Mercedes-powered team had led the Constructors' Championship since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
In China, Vettel fell to fifth after a Virtual Safety Car pit stop was undercut by a real Safety Car, but recovered to second. Räikkönen suffered understeer and finished fifth. Hamilton winning gave him level points with Vettel, with Mercedes one point ahead in the Constructors' Championship.
At Bahrain, Vettel qualified third and won after pitting for supersoft tyres under a Safety Car, holding off a late charge from Hamilton. It was his second win in three races; Räikkönen finished fourth.
Ferrari achieved a front-row lockout in Russia, but Valtteri Bottas passed both Ferraris at the start and held on to win his first career victory. Vettel finished second, Räikkönen third with the race's fastest lap. After 20% of the season Vettel led the Drivers' Championship by 13 points over Hamilton; Ferrari trailed Mercedes by one point in the Constructors' Championship.
In Spain, Vettel qualified second, got to the lead at turn 1, and won after a disputed incident with Hamilton — their cars touched wheels at turn 1 during a pit stop phase and Hamilton was forced off track. Räikkönen was eliminated in a first-lap collision involving Verstappen and Bottas.
At Monaco, Räikkönen took pole — his first since the 2008 French Grand Prix — by 0.043 seconds over Vettel. Vettel won after pitting five laps later than Räikkönen and rejoining ahead. It was Ferrari's first Monaco win since 2001 and their first 1–2 finish since the 2010 German Grand Prix. Vettel extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 25 points.
Canada was difficult. A collision with Verstappen at the start damaged Vettel's front wing; he eventually lost half of it and pitted from last, recovering to fourth. Räikkönen retired with a brake issue in seventh. Mercedes retook the Constructors' lead by 8 points.
At Azerbaijan, Räikkönen out-qualified Vettel. Under a safety car restart Vettel steered into Hamilton's car, claiming Hamilton had brake-checked him. Vettel received a 10-second stop-go penalty and three licence penalty points, finishing fourth; he later admitted the error and apologised. Räikkönen, who had collided with Bottas on lap 1, retired on lap 46 to prevent suspension failure.
In Austria, Vettel qualified second and finished second behind Bottas by six tenths of a second; Räikkönen struggled for pace and finished fifth. At the British Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified second and Vettel third; both suffered late-race left-front tyre failures. Räikkönen finished third and Vettel seventh after pitting from third with one lap to go. Hamilton's fourth successive British GP win cut the championship gap to Vettel to one point; Mercedes opened a 55-point Constructors' lead.
In Hungary, Vettel took pole from Räikkönen. A hydraulic repair before the race left Vettel with a steering wheel issue, limiting his pace and causing him to hold up his teammate. Despite this, Vettel won with Räikkönen second; Bottas was 12.462 seconds back in third. At the summer break, Vettel led the Drivers' Championship by 14 points and Ferrari were 39 points behind Mercedes.
At Spa-Francorchamps (Belgian Grand Prix), despite Spa being considered favourable to Mercedes, Vettel qualified second and applied constant pressure to Hamilton throughout the race without being able to pass; he finished second. Räikkönen, handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags, recovered to fourth.
At the Italian Grand Prix on home ground, both Ferraris qualified in a wet session at P7 and P8, 2.5 seconds from Hamilton's pole, and were promoted to P5 and P6 after Red Bull engine penalties. Neither could match the Mercedes pace; Vettel finished third, Räikkönen fifth. Vettel dropped to 3 points behind Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship; Ferrari were 62 points behind Mercedes in the Constructors'.
At the Singapore Grand Prix, Vettel took pole by over three tenths from Verstappen. At the start, Vettel moved to cover Verstappen, not seeing Räikkönen charging on his left. Verstappen swerved to avoid Vettel but had no room; Räikkönen hit Verstappen and was then collected by Vettel. All three retired on lap 1 — the first time in Formula One history both Ferrari drivers retired on lap 1 of the same race.
In Malaysia, Vettel started last after a power unit failure prevented him from setting a lap time in Q1. Räikkönen, who had qualified second, did not take the start after suffering power loss on his way to the grid. Vettel charged through the field but narrowly missed the podium, finishing behind Ricciardo in fourth.
At the Japanese Grand Prix, Räikkönen damaged his gearbox in FP3, earning a five-place grid penalty, and finished fifth. Vettel qualified third but retired after four laps with a faulty spark plug — his second retirement in three races. The three-race Asian swing turned a three-point deficit to Hamilton into 59 points; Mercedes extended their Constructors' lead to 145 points.
At the United States Grand Prix, Vettel passed Hamilton off the start but was repassed on lap 6 and finished second. Räikkönen held third place until Verstappen passed him on the final lap; Verstappen then received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, restoring Räikkönen to third. Ferrari's first double podium since Hungary coincided with Mercedes clinching their fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship.
At the Mexican Grand Prix, Vettel took pole by less than a tenth from Verstappen — his fourth pole of the season. Vettel was passed by Verstappen and Hamilton at the start; a collision with Hamilton at turn 3 forced Vettel to pit for a new front wing and Hamilton to change tyres for a puncture. Vettel recovered to fourth but Hamilton's ninth-place finish secured his fourth Drivers' Championship. Räikkönen lost positions at the start but recovered to third.
In Brazil, Vettel overtook Bottas at the start and went on to win; Räikkönen finished third. In Abu Dhabi, Vettel finished third behind Bottas and Hamilton, with Räikkönen fourth. The season ended with Ferrari second in the Constructors' Championship, and Vettel and Räikkönen second and fourth in the Drivers' Championship respectively.
The Santander sponsorship — in place since 2010 — ended with this season (Santander later returned in 2022). At the Italian Grand Prix, to mark Ferrari's 70th anniversary, the anniversary logo was placed on the engine cover.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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