A red dawn
There Ferrari returns to success and a double, and does so on the Melbourne track, historically favorable but which on this occasion gave important confirmations and impressions to the Maranello team, deservedly triumphant of the Australian weekend.
Since free practice it was perceived that the SF24 was in a state of grace, while RedBull seemed to be struggling much more than normal, on a track that was highly limiting on the front and with the softer compounds brought by Pirelli which tended to form graining that was complicated to manage and which put the RB20 in decidedly more difficulty. But from there it was a long way to expect a red double. Of course, it is obvious that Verstappen's retirement is an important factor to take into account, but the impression is that even if the Dutchman had remained in the race he would not have had an easy life as in the recent past, with a Ferrari that would have was at least on par, if not, probably, superior in pace.
Carlos Sainz was the author of a great race: always fast, with perfect management of the tire and the race, and he was able to build on the victory starting from Saturday, with a very high level qualifying. Leclerc had to settle for second place, compromising his chances already in qualifying, but he immediately stated that his partner had done a better job and the atmosphere between the two Ferrari drivers seems truly positive and collaborative. But technically where does the SF24's performance come from?
The “overturning” of the SF23
The start of the 2024 season was taking a somewhat dissonant turn with the feedback from the track. The Red Bull was and remains the strongest car of the lot, the reference to beat, but the two one-two finishes in two races for the Milton Keynes team hid the reality of the great work done in Maranello with the SF24, a car born under a very different star than the single-seater of last season. During the winter Vasseur said several times that the new car was different from the previous one in over 90% of the components, but it was difficult to imagine such a radical change in philosophy of the car. If the SF23 had the problem of a chronically weak front end, so much so as to force the technicians to limit the load to the rear axle, the SF24 presents the opposite characteristic, with a particularly solid front end of the car even compared to the Red Bull. “Tomorrow will be tough with Ferrari, we know that they have a very strong front end which is very useful here” said Sergio Perez on the eve of the Australian race, confirming the impressions we had had from the data. The new suspension layout combined with aerodynamics that move the center of pressure decidedly further forward, have transformed the weak point of the previous car into what is for now an absolute strong point, and which brings with it a large number of benefits, such as stability during braking and insertion and the high energy of the flows, which allow the single-seater to be decidedly less sensitive to external factors, such as bumps in the road surface and wind. In Melbourne we then saw the fruits of the work on refining the rear set-up, which had shown a certain lightness in the two opening races, while in Australia he was constantly able to follow the front with precision, making driving pleasant and profitable for the drivers, who were therefore able to properly extract the potential of the single-seater. In short, a strong front, well-prepared set-ups, a car that responds to the settings as expected, a high level of aerodynamic load, the complete opposite of what we found 12 months ago.
Vasseur and the revolution of concreteness
Ferrari's steps forward are therefore tangible and are reflected on the track, but they clearly start from afar. The arrival of Frederic Vasseur marked a change in approach where concreteness became the protagonist, in all aspects. The design of the car concept followed the indications of the drivers, and the execution of the weekends, although certainly improvable, continues to be a point in the red's favour. Just look at how the strategies are punctual and precise today, and always logical, including the Australian race, where it was decided to anticipate Leclerc's stop to cover Piastri and attack Norris, a plan that then worked, although, obviously, the Monegasque was at that point “out of phase” with the tires and therefore had some additional management difficulties. In general there have been two opportunities to win a race in almost 2 years and the redhead took both of them, definitively confirming the concreteness of the team, an aspect that can only be good for the working environment. But where can this team go?
The constructors' title and the (limited) RedBull disproportions
If we think about it what the aspirations of this Ferrari could be in the medium term it is easy to guess, given Hamilton's arrival next season, but in the very short term, the current season, it is more difficult to identify precise objectives, given that one race does not erase the level of Verstappen and his Red Bull. It is true, however, that a struggling Perez now seems beatable, thus leaving a window open to fight for the manufacturers title. Absolutely, what we continue to notice is that the disproportion in Red Bull's performance evident in the past is decidedly more limited this year, with direct evidence for example with regards to aerodynamic load. Even in Milton Keynes today they have to make choices, and those made for the Melbourne race did not seem ideal, with a lower level of downforce than the Ferrari which seemed to adapt poorly to the softer compounds.
The others
Behind the Ferrari in Melbourne came the two McLaren, confirming a single-seater with a lot of vertical load and well carried by its drivers. The closeness at the finish between Norris and Leclerc should not be completely misleading, given that between the two it was certainly the Englishman who had the better strategy, which he then exploited towards the end of the race. Mercedes, on the other hand, did very badly, in a complicated spiral of crisis, scoring 0 points despite Verstappen's defiance. For now, the W15 seems like a cross between the SF23 and the W14, with enormous difficulties in finding set-up compromises that work and in serious crisis in terms of data correlation between the track and the simulations.
Suzuka state exam
The next race will be the final test for everyone before the big train of updates starts. The Japanese Suzuka track, due to its completeness, will put the drivers and single-seaters to the test and will allow them to gain some almost definitive conclusions on the projects of the various teams. The curiosity at this point is notable, to understand where each team is at, where they have to work and where they can get to.
#Ferrari #SainzLeclerc #double #Australia
