Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur believes that the team’s more benign and “easier to drive” SF-24 offers a good base for development in the months ahead.
Inconsistent performance, particularly in race trim, was a significant hurdle for Ferrari in 2023, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggling to maintain consistent pace and balance throughout a stint on race day.
At the core of the Scuderia’s issue was the wind sensitivity of Ferrari’s SF-23 due to the design’s aerodynamic characteristics that made it nearly impossible for the drivers to understand the behavior of their car in the corners, which inevitably impacted their confidence.
However, pre-season testing earlier this year – especially long runs – revealed the Italian outfit’s significant progress in addressing the wind sensitivity problem that had plagued its car last year.
This has resulted in a car that is undeniably easier to drive and that displays greater consistency, traits validated in the first two races of the season in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia.
While Ferrari has emerged as Red Bull’s closest contender, Vasseur is skeptical that upgrades alone will enable the Scuderia to catch Formula 1’s dominant team which looks set to uphold its supremacy in 2024.
However, the Frenchman underscored the importance of Ferrari’s strong start.
“We have upgrades into the pipeline but I’m sure that we are not the only one,” Vasseur commented after the Saudi Arabian GP, quoted by Motorsport Week.
“If you have a look last year, the picture, McLaren improved a lot during the season, but I think it was more for them to unlock something at the beginning than pure upgrades and we improve but not by half a second.
©Ferrari
“It means that we are at the point with this car and this regulation that you have a kind of convergence of performance and the rate of development is much lower.
“It means that it’s why it’s important for us to be competitive from the beginning, to score good points also because last year we had a poor start.
“I think today I am not focused at all on the championship, but we scored something like 45 points overall and last year after three races we were at 25. It’s important to have a good start.”
Vasseur reckons that with a less problematic car on its hands compared to its predecessor, therefore one that is easier to drive, in-season development should be a more straightforward process.
“Also I think the fact that the car is, I don’t want to say easy to drive, and in any case it has nothing to do with the performance of Ollie [Bearman], but I think the car today is easier to drive than one year ago, and this is a good base for the development, because the car is much easier to read for the drivers, much easier to understand where we have to improve,” he added.
“And in this situation I think it’s a step forward for us in the overall picture.”
Vasseur did not offer a timeline regarding the Scuderia’s development programme, but only minor changes are expected for this week’s Australian GP, as Leclerc explained.
“I don’t think we’ll have many things new in Melbourne,” said the Monegasque. “So without new things in Melbourne, I think we are doing a good job by maximising our package. So that’s where we are.
“I think we’ll probably have to wait and see whenever we have new parts to the car, what kind of step we do forward. And hopefully that will bring us closer to Red Bull.”
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