Ferrari 2024, to date, is not yet a team that can aspire to win the Formula 1 world title, but the steps forward compared to last year have been so evident and tangible that the Maranello team is without the possibility of the second force behind the still impregnable Red Bull was denied.
The SF-24 is a well-born machine, competitive for the podium, but not yet for the victory. The gap from the RB20 is a few tenths in both qualifying and the race, but the Milton Keynes team's margin seems to have narrowed. A closer Ferrari means being able to put more pressure on Red Bull, perhaps avoiding the almost complete success achieved by the team led by Christian Horner last season.
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, knows well that in Maranello they will still have to work hard to recover, but he is also aware that he does not have a team in his hands that can now fight, not feeling useless right from the start of the season.
“In qualifying they have maybe two/three tenths of an advantage over us, and in the race a little more. But it's difficult to make an estimate because we don't know if they were pushing hard.”
“But the feeling is more positive: if you get back into this zone, you know that if you take a step, you can put a little pressure on them.”
“When we were within a second [di distacco] it was useless, but now with a good start we can be there, we can fight. I think in Jeddah it was quite easy [per loro] overtaking because they had a better top speed – it was a choice – but on some occasions we will have other opportunities.”
Red Bull's advantage is still such that it cannot allow Vasseur and the team to think about the standings. But looking at it, it is clear that the step forward made by the Red team compared to last year is nothing short of evident. 46 points in 2 races compared to 25 last year, also obtained this year thanks to an 18-year-old rookie who had never had the opportunity to try the SF-24 before Free Practice 3 in Jeddah.
“I'm not at all focused on the championship, but I think we got something like 45 points (actually 46) in total, while last year after three races we had 25. It's important to have a good starting base and a good level of performance. It's important to have a good start.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
“Also, I think the fact that the car is, I don't want to say easy to drive and in any case has nothing to do with performance – but I think the car today is easier to drive than it was a year ago.”
“This is a good basis for development, because the car is much easier for the drivers to read, and it is more understandable for us to know where we need to improve. In this situation it is a step forward for us for the big picture.”
Now Ferrari's mission will be to make up further ground on Red Bull. The next updates that will arrive will be aimed precisely at finding greater performance, but the team does not expect to have a single component that can really make a difference. It will have to be a question of a combination of innovations to make a well-designed car better, easier to drive, which has achieved 2 podiums in two races and which promises to be a good base for the months to come.
“Performance comes from everywhere, and it's never a given that you have a component that makes you recover five tenths on the car,” he said.
“If we want to catch up, we have to improve in every single area. This was our approach last year and it paid off well in the end. We made a decent step, but in every single area we have to keep pushing.”
“For sure aerodynamics are fundamental. We have some updates in the pipeline, but I'm sure everyone has them. The most important thing is to bring updates that can be used on the car, and I think we did a good job last year”, concluded Vasseur.
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