Leclerc and Sainz’s 1-2 finish in COTA cements Ferrari as genuine Championship contenders. The Italian squad are within 50 points of McLaren in the standings – a deficit that can certainly be overturned in the final five races. However, Fred Vasseur’s team are also optimistic about their 2025 package.
Ferrari overturn mid-season slump to re-assert themselves as contenders
After Charles Leclerc claimed victory in Monaco (only a few races after Sainz’s Australia win), Ferrari were seen as potential title challengers to Red Bull.
This optimism soon turned into frustration at the Spanish GP, where the Scuderia’s upgrade package failed. The SF-24 became difficult to handle and suffered from persistent bouncing, undoing any potential for improvement.
Ferrari spent the European leg of the season trying to fix this self-inflicted dilemma. It was only at the Italian GP that a solution was found, with a new upgrade package undoing the damage inflicted in Barcelona.
Fred Vasseur remains confident in the team’s trajectory
Things change quickly in Formula 1, which is why effective and strong leadership is so necessary. Although the situation at Ferrari has now stabilised, there were huge question marks surrounding the team a few months ago.
Amidst this uncertainty, team principal Fred Vasseur made clear during the summer break that Ferrari’s future was bright.
He insisted that Ferrari’s development was in a good place. Perhaps more significantly, he also showed confidence in the team’s 2025 challenger:
“I think we are already fighting [for the World Championship] this year,” he told Corriere.it.
“We won [races], so the potential is there despite some mistakes.
“And in any case, the development of the 2025 Ferrari is proceeding well.”
Ferrari could go from strength to strength
Charles Leclerc echoed a similar sentiment before last weekend’s race, explaining that Ferrari are seeing “quite a lot of gains”.
Of course, there are no guarantees the Maranello-based operation will stay at the front next season. With that said, all the indications are very positive.
Next season’s cars will be an evolution from this year, marking the final stage of continuity before a fresh set of regulations in 2026. Therefore, this final stretch of the season will be very informative about the 2025 campaign.
Considering that Ferrari have more upgrades to the SF-24 in the pipeline, their COTA success is a clear statement.
Unlike the other top teams, such as Mercedes or even McLaren, the Italian team are peaking towards the end of 2024.
Having taken some risks earlier in the year, they now have a strong baseline to build upon for the next twelve months. They can now push ahead with upgrades in the knowledge that discrepancies between the wind tunnel and on-track performance are very likely.
It was only four months ago that Ferrari seemed to have squandered a chance to fight for the title.
Fred Vasseur’s personnel have completely reversed the situation, putting themselves in a good place for short and medium-term. success.
