Over the last few months, Ferrari has lost ground to McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull in the development war. Free Practice in Zandvoort has confirmed their decline, with the SF-24 struggling for pace. Ferrari are the fourth-fastest team so far this weekend, with upgrades in the next few races necessary to rectify their situation.
Ferrari still playing catch-up
Heading into this weekend, there were reports that Ferrari would bring updates to Zandvoort. However, it is now understood the SF-24’s next updates are scheduled for Ferrari’s home race in Monza – next weekend.
Until then, the Italian outfit will focus on damage limitation. Leclerc was over seven tenths behind Russell in FP2, a relatively large deficit in a 70-second lap.
The Monegasque was slower than Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso and even Kevin Magnussen. Considering Ferrari were fighting for victories just three months ago, the first indications in Zandvoort are far from encouraging.
Speaking to the media on Friday evening, Leclerc was honest about the situation:
“As expected, I would say. We don’t quite have the pace of the guys in front, unfortunately.
“I think it’s better than what it looks like on the timesheet at the end of the day, but still not quite in the fight for the win, for sure.
“There’s quite a bit of work to do still. That’s what we are doing, but I hope it will pay off soon.”
It was an even worse day for Carlos Sainz, who barely completed any running with a gearbox issue. This leaves the Spaniard in a difficult position for qualifying and race day, especially since mixed conditions are anticipated.
To make matters worse for Ferrari, McLaren have a significant upgrade package this weekend.
Mercedes are also using new components, returning to the new floor specification that was initially meant to debut in Spa.
Overall, the state of play is clear for Fred Vasseur and his personnel. They are close enough to deliver an upset, but more performance is required to win races once again.
Unless their next updates can produce a clear step forward, the remainder of 2024 could become very frustrating for Ferrari.
