The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind of emotions for McLaren. The team’s Monza failure has become a huge talking point, especially in relation to Norris and Piastri’s driver status. However, amidst the focus on McLaren’s battle with Red Bull, Ferrari have re-emerged as contenders. According to Zak Brown, Fred Vasseur’s team are a genuine threat in the title battle.
F1 News: McLaren weary of Ferrari progress
Ferrari upgrades make the difference
Although it seems a long time ago now, Ferrari were Red Bull’s closest challengers in the first six rounds. The Italian outfit were capable of matching the defending Champions – putting themselves within touching distance in the standings after Leclerc’s Monaco win.
Unfortunately for the Italian outfit, their Spanish GP upgrade package did not work as expected. The parts intended to increase the SF-24’s downforce actually worsened performance, putting the car outside of the ideal operating window.
Ferrari spent months trying to correct this error, with last weekend’s Italy updates representing their solution to this problem.
At least so far, the Maranello-based team’s new package is a clear step forward. Not just in terms of pure performance, but also tyre management – which is crucial to challenging the ever-consistent McLaren.
Zak Brown is aware of this, identifying the Italian team as an emerging threat:
“They [Ferrari] gambled with the one-stop strategy and it worked,” he told Sky F1.
“We didn’t think it would work. Charles drove superbly, and for us, it’s great points.
“They [Ferrari] were strong all weekend, especially Charles. There are still some races to go. It looks like Ferrari is back in the fight.
“Everyone is chasing Red Bull, but Ferrari is not far behind us either.”
The Championship fight intensifies
For most of the season, four teams have been fighting for wins. However, the Championship standings have only now started to reflect this.
With Red Bull failing to improve the RB20 (in combination with Sergio Perez’s struggles), the reigning champions are under immense pressure. The other front-runners are rapidly reducing their advantage in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings.
McLaren are only 8 points behind, whilst Ferrari’s deficit is now just 39 points. Considering the progress being made by the factory in Maranello, they certainly cannot be discounted in the fight for the title.
Ferrari now have the same number of wins as McLaren in 2024, despite having far fewer opportunities.
Assuming that the Italian team can avoid the operational mistakes that have plagued McLaren, they can put Andrea Stella’s squad under even more pressure.
