Ferrari: Focus on race day competitiveness fueled 2024 success

Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear says the Italian outfit’s strong performances this season are the result of the team switching its focus to improving its race day competitiveness.

With five wins achieved so far in 2024, compared to just three pole positions, Ferrari has broken its long-standing trend of prioritizing qualifying pace.

At the heart of Ferrari's turnaround lies a conscious strategic decision to move away from its historical emphasis on one-lap pace, as Clear explained.

“I think we’ve mentioned before that this year we had changed our focus a little bit,” said the British engineer, quoted by Motorsport Week.

“It was clear for people to see that certainly two, three years ago we were the kings of qualifying and really struggled on a Sunday. But even last year, the balance was not quite right.”

Over the first two years of Formula 1’s current ground-effect era, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz managed to convert just four wins from a combined 19 pole positions, underlining the need for a more holistic approach.

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This season, Ferrari has sought to ensure that its SF-24 is most competitive when points are on the line. According to Clear, this shift has profoundly impacted the team’s psyche.

“I think this year, the encouraging thing is that wherever the drivers qualify, they sort of get out of the car at the end of qualifying and think, ‘yeah, but I know that I can race tomorrow’, which for the drivers is a really strong mentality.

“You know, in previous years, Charles has got out of the car in P1 in qualifying and thought, now I’ve got to try and hang on to this in the race.

“When he’s got to face 56 laps of hanging on to a position, it’s a different prospect.

“Now we go into the race knowing, ‘okay, we qualified P2, P3. We know we can race. We know we can win this from here’.

“And that’s a really, really good place to be. So psychologically and technically, it’s the right way to approach racing for sure.”

With three rounds to go in this year’s campaign, Ferrari faces a 35-point deficit to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship. A title win would mark the team’s first since 2008, and while Ferrari acknowledges the challenge ahead, it remains optimistic.

Clear identified the Qatar Grand Prix as a particular test for the SF-24, owing to its reliance on high-speed performance—a relative weak point for Ferrari compared to McLaren and Red Bull.

“Qatar is a tough circuit and a lot of high speed. But I think we’re making good progress [with the high-speed corners],” Clear said.

“And as I say, it’s a relative sport. I don’t see others making big steps.

“So the package we’ve got, I think we can work it pretty well at all of the circuits. Qatar is probably the one that will challenge us most, yeah.”

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