Horner: “Italian media brutal towards Ferrari, enormous expectations”

'Brutal' pressure

“Ferrari is a different team from the others, it's as if it were a national team”. Thus the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner he emphasized the fact that there is a special team on the F1 starting grid, the one characterized by the red livery.

Ferrari has been racing in F1 since the birth of this category, embellished with the coat of arms and tradition of the Prancing Horse. The Scuderia from Maranello is going through another long drought in terms of world titles, a situation already experienced in the past when 16 seasons passed between the Constructors' title obtained in 1984 and the one achieved in 1999. Currently Ferrari hasn't celebrated a world title since 2008when Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa won the Constructors' title in a season that culminated in mockery for the Brazilian driver, world champion for a few seconds in Brazil after crossing the finish line in first position.

From 2010 to 2023 Mercedes and Red Bull shared the 'stakes' at stake, with Ferrari often competitive, but never able to hit the big target in the end. 2024 will be the first 'real' season under the management of Frederic Vasseur, who arrived at the beginning of 2023 and therefore without room for maneuver on the genesis of the SF-23. Horner underlined that the French manager is certainly competent: “The Italian media is brutal and they scrutinize every movement or move of the Ferrari universe – the words of Horner interviewed by Sky Sports UK – from this comes enormous pressure, also because Ferrari is a pillar of F1. Vasseur is a capable manager, there will be great expectations for Ferrari in 2024.”

Red Bull itself could be facilitating Ferrari's 'chase', at least judging by what Horner added: “I think by now we have already passed the moment when the performance growth curve of our project was notable. The regulations for the next two years will not change and we are now at a point of decreasing growth in terms of developments. Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin will be able to get very close in 2024.”