F1 | Ferrari: the dark disease of the SF-24 is cured at Silverstone

The dream has shattered. There was a moment when it seemed that Ferrari could challenge Red Bull together with McLaren. The Woking team has lived up to expectations by bringing Lando Norris to a direct clash with Max Verstappen, while the Scuderia seems condemned to take a beating from Mercedes too, after having slipped into the uncomfortable role of fourth force.

The SF-24 does not meet expectations, indeed it disappoints. The package of updates introduced in Barcelona has given more aerodynamic load, but the negative effect is that the greater downforce generated by the floor generates “porpoising”, that is, the bouncing in the fastest sections.

The dirty word, which somewhat surprisingly characterized the beginning of the history of ground effect single-seaters, F1 preferred to replace it with bouncing, the term is modified but the substance does not change. The red with the rebounds has sudden losses of load that generate two negative effects: first, the drivers are forced to lighten their foot from the accelerator in the fast corners; second, the rear tires overheat due to the lack of grip.

Ferrari has been hit by the most subtle enemy, which is not easy to see in the wind tunnel and, therefore, becomes difficult to eradicate. In fact, even the Silverstone simulations say that the SF-24 should be competitive, just as they expected it to be in Austria, but in Spielberg we all know how it ended.

Yesterday Carlos Sainz was in the simulator, today it’s Charles Leclerc’s turn. The drivers have made themselves available to the team to find a solution, because the bouncing undermines the confidence of those behind the wheel. At the Red Bull Ring the two have tried to compensate for the lower speed of the fast corners with more aggressive braking, holding on to one of the strong points of the red.

The result was that on Saturday, in the Sprint race, already on the second lap the discs had overheated, forcing the riders to lift and coast at the end of the straights, losing further performance. It is clear that all this takes away the riders’ confidence. And if they lose their certainties, the instructions to the team to find the best setup become less precise. In short, it seems like there is a dog chasing its own tail…

In all this we see the mechanics constantly tinkering with the brake baskets: finding the right cooling threshold for the corner, without penalizing the efficiency of the car is a difficult balance to find, especially during the season. The feeling is that in Maranello they have reached the threshold of a nervous breakdown.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Fred Vasseur plays it down: the team principal is convinced that the SF-24 has more potential than what is seen on the track and that a little motivation in qualifying would be enough (in the team’s choices and in the drivers’ motivations) to stay ahead of Mercedes at least.

The fact is that Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes have ascending performance lines. Only Ferrari is descending and the fall must be drained quickly. At Silverstone we will see a less “powerful” rear diffuser in the hope of controlling the “porpoising”: a step back is taken in the hope of then taking two steps forward. We will see the rear wing designed for the English track and those detail changes that were part of the British package, in the belief that with three free practice sessions it is possible to find a compromise set-up that allows the drivers to exploit the red. We are in a crucial phase of the season: in addition to defending a second place in the Constructors from the rise of McLaren, it is important to find certainties in the definition of the SF-25, a single-seater that will have a pull rod front suspension and a new body with a different weight distribution.

Ferrari for Lewis, as it is already called, will not have to drag along the defects that the SF-24 carries with it in a more or less hidden way…