Ferrari’s 2024 season has had some major ups and some massive downs, with the future not looking quite bleak at the moment.
The start of the season for Ferrari was like a new beginning. Moving away from a past season that brought too many difficulties and disappointments. During this 2024 season, however, Ferrari has had some ups and downs that have not greatly favoured the fight for the world championship.
Start of the 2024 season
The start of the season presented itself as a new beginning, a new era for Ferrari. In fact, at first glance, we saw a single-seater with different shapes, with different design objectives. A new car was presented, capable of adapting to the various updates that would be brought during the season. It has been defined as “the revolution”, with a different floor, different pance, the dynamic air intake located at the driver’s head etc.
The first races of this new season
With the basis of this new single-seater, different from the previous season, Ferrari expected a better response. And in fact, the first races confirmed their hypotheses. A more competitive single-seater, less problematic and easier to drive. During the first races, the drivers of the Maranello team managed to obtain good results. In fact, both managed to finish in the top 5, thus returning to the points zone.
But the most important thing, which no one would have expected, was the fight in the Constructors’ Championship. In Australia Ferrari was 2-tenths behind Red Bull in qualifying. Carlos Sainz went on to win the Australian Grand Prix. A winning Ferrari, without too many difficulties, made everyone dream. And right here, it would have been important to try to have the objective of keeping at least the Constructors’ Championship open for as long as possible.
Monaco victory
The F1 world didn’t expect a competitive single-seater but above all Charles Leclerc’s victory in Monaco. On tracks like these, where it is difficult to overtake, it is important to try to get pole position. And in fact Charles Leclerc drove masterfully, obtaining a pole which then led him to win the Monaco race. A victory that gave everyone hope, the hope of even being able to overtake Red Bull. But it was precisely from this race, the most exciting, that the real problems began for Ferrari. Transforming the dream they were living into a nightmare.
First problem for Ferrari
After Monaco, Ferrari started to collapse. Thanks to the updates that did not bring the expected results. What really impressed was the step back that Ferrari took in qualifying. No more performance, and above all with the new updates, problems from two years ago have resurfaced. Among the many problems, bouncing which, if not corrected, risks sending the rider straight into the wall. But that wasn’t the only problem to arise. Leclerc’s car also began to suffer from brake temperature imbalance. Big problems that did not allow Ferrari to conduct a discreet race. And from here the doubts, the questions, the perplexities began. At Maranello, many questions began to be asked but without answers. Lots of confusion with two drivers forced to battle with a problematic car rather than battle for a podium.
EVO 1 VS EVO 2
The first real problem came with the Barcelona package. Especially with empty tanks, the situation was truly unmanageable on Charles Leclerc’s car. Every high-speed corner was like being in a roulette. The new updates have brought some improvements compared to the Imola package. But overall there didn’t seem to be a sufficient performance gap. What resulted was a very unstable car in high-speed corners. At this moment Ferrari found itself at a crossroads. And the most important thing was trying to understand what happened with the updates and try to fix the mistakes made.
In the race in Great Britain, Ferrari was forced to take a step back and use the old updates. A right choice but one that also made us reflect a lot on how the team was in difficulty. As we all know, the updates are brought to elevate the car to the next level. But when a team finds itself forced to take a step back, then there is a big problem. Especially if it is difficult to find plausible and convincing answers.
The current situation at Ferrari
After various experiments on a car that does not accept the new updates, Hungary seems to have seen a more balanced SF-24. With the little that the single-seater can currently offer, Ferrari achieved the maximum during the weekend in Hungary. Also managing to manage the tyres and strategies well.
Despite this, however, Ferrari remains fourth in the world championship. Unable to compete with Red Bull and McLaren. From what we have seen so far, there is still a lot of work to be done at Ferrari, especially in the field of performance. The next stop is Belgium, Spa. It will remain to be seen whether Ferrari chooses to reassemble the development package used in Budapest, or they will go back to Silverstone. The world championship is still completely open, and the surprises are not over.
