Scuderia Ferrari seeks confirmation in the ninth round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the Canadian Grand Prix, which will take place at the 4.361-kilometre Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal on Sunday, June 9, after Charles Leclerc’s impressive race victory in the Monaco Grand Prix on the streets of Monte Carlo. The SF-24 single-seater will have adaptations for the Canadian track, which features stop-and-go sections with very fast straights interspersed with challenging braking points that test the braking system.
The Maranello team has meticulously prepared for the race at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit on Notre Dame Island. A significant change from last year is that the bumpy surface has been resurfaced, which might favor Red Bull, as their RB20 struggles with curbs when they need to be aggressively tackled in order to find the best lap times.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, highly motivated after the first and third place finishes for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, remains cautious but suggests that Ferrari is ready to compete at the top once again. Reflecting on the last three events, namely Miami, Imola, and Monaco, Fred Vasseur notes that despite different layouts and types of track surface, the teams have all been within a tenth of a second. He acknowledges that while Ferrari did not dominate on the streets of Monte Carlo despite the race win, McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari have been consistently close, regardless of track type, tire compounds, and other race variables. With Montreal being a very fast circuit featuring many curbs and high top speeds, the French manager expresses a good feeling ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Simulations indicate a competitive Ferrari in Montreal: on paper, a medium downforce setup is needed, but the tendency is to aim for a medium-low downforce configuration, so expect a revised rear wing and the last flap of the front wing for this race.
The medium wing used in the first seven events of the 2024 Formula 1 championship suited the old aerodynamic configuration: we will see in Montreal what the engineers led by Enrico Cardile, head of Ferrari’s chassis and aerodynamics department, who returned after a motorcycle accident that caused rib fractures, have decided. The 49-year-old Italian technician is in the spotlight after a recent rumor reported by the media regarding his possible move to Aston Martin, but internally, there has been no official communication about any intention to leave the Maranello team.
It’s interesting to note that operations in the Racing Department are continuously evolving: the decision-making processes for the cars have changed with simulation work (combining Computational Fluid Dynamics, wind tunnel, and simulator tools) leading to more choices before converging on final solutions. The goal, considering cost limits and the desire to bring only performance-enhancing solutions to the track, is to reduce parts validated in the wind tunnel, with increasingly effective Computational Fluid Dynamics work, enhanced by methodologies introduced by recent arrivals.
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