F1 | Imola truth: Ferrari and McLaren ready to challenge Red Bull?

For many different reasons the Imola weekend will be a crossroads. In the seventh stage of the 2024 World Cup, many aspects will come together that could revise the scale of values ​​on the pitch that we will most likely see until the summer break. The Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit has very little in common with the Miami track, and for this reason it lends itself to being an important verification of the verdicts issued two weeks ago in the United States.

The first, and among the most anticipated, concerns McLaren. Lando Norris didn’t ‘only’ win the Miami Grand Prix, together with Oscar Piastri he confirmed that the MCL38 (with a substantial upgrade) was the overall fastest single-seater on the track. Not in all conditions (Verstappen took the two pole positions of the weekend) but on the race pace Norris stood out without too many doubts.

At the end of the US race, the opponents asked themselves a question that will be answered at the weekend in Imola. How much of the performance seen in Miami was linked to the technical updates brought to the track by McLaren and how much, instead, could a good adaptation of the car to the layout and track conditions have had an impact on Norris’ performance?

The ‘B’ version of the single-seater seemed to have solved the problem of maximum speed, and the management of the hard tires used in the second part of the Grand Prix was also perfect, demonstrating greater aerodynamic load. If Imola confirms what was seen in Miami, very interesting scenarios will open up for Norris and Piastri.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The most powerful spotlight, however, will be on the Ferrari garage, and it couldn’t be otherwise given that the Scuderia will bring to the track the first important updates of 2024 tasted last week on the Fiorano circuit. The ‘revisited’ SF24 has (for now on paper) all the ingredients to be a turning point in Leclerc and Sainz’s season. In Maranello they gave themselves all the time necessary to carefully evaluate how to improve the project, also considering the basic qualities of the car which allowed Ferrari to start the season with a good trend.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Davide Cavazza

The objectives are clear. The SF24 has so far confirmed itself in the race as a single-seater with excellent tire management, at the expense of turning on the tires which takes longer than the Red Bull. An aspect that somewhat affected the performance in qualifying and in the restarts, both after the pit stops and at the end of a safety car period. Among the update’s targets there is also an improvement in performance in slow corners, and the timing of the arrival of the updates seems perfect, given that a few days later Formula 1 will stop in Monte Carlo.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Erik Junius

Red Bull, as is obvious, can only confirm itself. After the Miami race the team confirmed a loss of performance for Verstappen in the second stint of the race due to an off-track excursion (and contact with a cone) which damaged the floor of the car, resulting in a loss of performance. The question that the Imola weekend will have to answer is whether it really was an episode, or if in Miami (as also appeared from Verstappen’s radio teams) something in the race pace with the hard tires did not go as expected.

All this takes place in a new scenario, where at the moment the new variable (seen in Miami) has been the growth of McLaren. If it hadn’t been for Norris Max would have celebrated his fifth victory of the season two weeks ago, with or without a cone, and this is precisely the topic of greatest interest on the eve of Imola. On the evening of March 9, at the end of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the second Red Bull double (in the space of seven days) had made one think of a replay of last season.

Two months later the picture is a little different, not so much in the world championship race for the two world titles, but in the chances of the opponents being able to aim for individual stage successes without having to hope for unexpected events or exceptional conditions.

McLaren and Ferrari, although aware that they have no world championship objectives, are applying for something more than a passive second force role, i.e. without the possibility of annoying those in front of them. The first high note came from Lando Norris in Miami, Imola will serve to understand if it was an episode or if a slightly different championship awaits us (a bit surprisingly) compared to what was hypothesized two months ago on the warm evening in Jeddah. And perhaps, with two teams ready to seize the moment whenever everything isn’t working perfectly at Red Bull.