By Carlo Platella
As was inevitable, the race in the Principality was lacking in emotion, but the three days of the Grand Prix were full of interest, crowned by the beautiful victory of Ferrari and home idol Charles Leclerc. The suffering in the slow pace of the SF-24 did not promise an encouraging weekend for the Cavallino, which however showed off in the extreme setting of Monaco other qualities of the 2024 Redstrengthening the belief that they have what it takes to compete in the world championship challenge.
Ferrari cross
It is often said, rightly, that Monte Carlo is an atypical track within the calendar, not very representative of the values on the field. It’s precisely its extreme nature though exaggerate the strengths and weaknesses of the cars, allowing you to better appreciate its characteristics. Traction and agility at slow speeds are two of the most rewarding qualities in the Principality, where Red Bull and McLaren continue to show excellent performance, unlike Ferrari, which struggled for a long time at low mileages in the first part of the season.
At the same time, however, Monaco shows how at low speeds and without the aerodynamic load to crush the car, the Red among the best cars in digesting the roughness of the terrain, allowing its riders to attack the curbs without getting upset. An advantage of the SF-24 that finally manifests itself fully and which allowed the Cavallino to compete on equal terms with McLaren, prevailing in qualifying on the edge of tenth. The benefits will not be limited to Monte Carlo, but will also come in handy in a week on the bumpy track in Canada and in Singapore in the autumn. All without forgetting that Ferrari has another strong point in fast corners, with the potential to perform well even on tracks like Silverstone.
Open championship
The verdict in Monaco is not that of a Ferrari suddenly becoming favorite for the championship, but with the qualities to compete for the top step of the podium on certain tracks, with the awareness of having to chase on other tracks instead. “We will have different tracks with different designs and characteristics, which will suit McLaren or Red Bull better. Until the end of the season there will be ups and downs”, reflects Vasseur.
Red Bull itself, although in difficulty on the bumps in Monaco, had the potential to reach the podium with Verstappen, if the world champion had not hit the wall in qualifying. The Dutchman’s mistake, however, is precisely that the image of a team never under so much pressurewhere project weaknesses and strategic or guidance inaccuracies are no longer masked as in the past. “Max made more mistakes in Imola than in the last three seasons. It happens when you have to push harder. If you are in your comfort zone you don’t make mistakes and I think they were in this situation.” comments Vasseur, who however warns: “We must not draw conclusions, they will come back stronger.”
Trim beyond the car
With the victory in Monaco, Ferrari canceled the difficult 2023 edition. Since then, not only the car has improved, but also the set-up and preparation for the weekend. Already on the eve of the race, Carlos Sainz explained how in recent weeks in Maranello he had worked to understand the reasons for the lack of competitiveness in last season’s Grand Prix. To this was added a work of optimization of the set-up for the flying lap, discipline certainly did not appear to be a strong point of the SF-24. Even in this case, however, Sainz appeared confident on Thursday: “Here everything is played out in qualifying, which we know is not our strong point. But I believe that with a couple of tricks you can win”.
The reason for this optimism was that the less incisiveness of the Ferrari 2024 in qualifying was not only due to the project, but to an approach generally aimed at prioritizing the race pace also in the set-up. “We convinced everyone that the points are awarded on Sunday”explains Vasseur. “This means that in preparing for the weekend and in making set-up choices you have to focus more on the race and it’s paying off. Certainly in Monaco the focus is on qualifying, but in Canada the story will be different. This year in preparation we are focusing much more on Sunday”. An appropriately correct approach in Monte Carlo, where Ferrari did not hesitate to enhance the most important qualifying sessions of the season, validating a specific set-up for the flying lap which contributed to Charles Leclerc’s pole position.
The Red of driveability
There is another quality, already known, which fully emerges from Ferrari’s victory in the Principality. On more than one occasion, representatives of the Scuderia have underlined how driveability was a key objective for the 2024 project, after the grumpy and unpredictable SF-23. The steps forward on this front were already evident after the first races, but the trust conveyed by the car to the driversin particular Charles Leclerc, was another rewarding factor in the delicate Monegasque qualifying, where pushing yourself to the point of touching the walls is fundamental.
Preserve the driveability and balance will one of the themes in the development of these single-seaters, which could strengthen or break the current balance between Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Proof of this is Aston Martin, which for a year has struggled to transform the updates and the increase in aerodynamic load into improvements on the stopwatch, due to an imperfect balance. “It’s in the nature of these machines. When you add load, they become more critical and difficult to drive”, Alonso’s testimony. The risk is that even one of the top teams could now stumble upon a misstep similar to that of Aston Martin, a hypothesis that is all the more likely the more the pressure increases in a chase for the title that is more open than ever.
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