The Ferrari SF-24 car doesn’t unleash the potential of the Red Bull: after the first two races of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the main limitations of the red car compared to the Red Bull RB20 have emerged. The Maranello car lacks downforce and the ability to exploit all the mechanical grip in the rear to generate tire temperature. But the Ferrari technicians believe in development capabilities to close in on Max Verstappen as the season progresses.
The Red Bull RB20 dominates the start of the Formula 1 season. Adrian Newey’s new car has indicated an innovative path in ground-effect car development, as the previous RB19, having won 21 out of 22 GPs last year, was considered by the Milton Keynes technicians to have reached the limit of development.
For this reason, there is talk in the paddock that Red Bull is the car with the greatest potential for improvement: Adrian Newey has pushed and focused on some concepts in the cooling system to open up opportunities for aerodynamic development. The impact was that the RB20 single-seater suddenly made other Formula 1 cars “age,” giving the impression that they were from an older generation.
If this were the case, Max Verstappen could already be assigned the next two Formula 1 world championships (2024 and 2025) since the current cars will also be seen, just slightly modified, in the next F1 season. The analysis may be correct, but it is too drastic. Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, remains optimistic: the French manager is confident that the Prancing Horse team can close the gap to the RB20 with further developments.
The SF-24 is also a completely new car, and it is not fair to say that the red car cannot have improvement potential throughout the season. Ferrari has a layout very different from the SF-23, even though the position of the cockpit has not changed: The chassis is entirely new, longer by about 50 mm behind the driver and narrower, allowing for weight savings compared to last year’s car.
The 066/10 power unit has been moved back, and the gearbox shortened in search of a car with more stable reactions and, therefore, easier for drivers to handle at the limit. The SF-24 responds to changes, confirming that it was designed with a “healthy” basis but it is undeniable that the red team’s season started a step below Red Bull. In qualifying, they perhaps have a two or three-tenths advantage over Ferrari, as admitted by Fred Vasseur after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but in the race a bit more. At the moment it’s hard to estimate because we don’t know if Red Bull were pushing to the maximum. The positive feeling expressed by Fred Vasseur is that if Ferrari manage to take a step forward, they could put some pressure on the world champions.
At the Jeddah circuit, Ferrari was the only one among the top teams to field its car with a loaded rear wing (the same as the one used in the first round of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix), while the opponents bet on a less resistant solution more useful for seeking good top speeds.
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The SF-24 in Saudi Arabia struggled to extract the potential of the red car: the drivers complained about not bringing the tires to temperature on a track with smooth surface, little wear, but very grippy.
According to the analysis made by the Pirelli technicians in Jeddah, seeking mechanical grip was crucial, while Maranello technicians tried to compensate for the inability to get the tires in the right operating window with an increase in downforce. On Sunday, the red car couldn’t transfer the necessary energy to the tires to extract their maximum potential.
Is it a sign that the SF-24 lacks aerodynamic load only compared to Red Bull, while being decidedly more competitive than all the others? The answer is certainly yes, but if we consider the Pirelli interpretation, we must also look at the rear suspension. In this area too, Ferrari has changed a lot compared to last year, even though the pull-rod layout remains, abandoned by everyone except Haas.
With the new transmission, the suspension has been completely redesigned: the upper arm has been raised above the gearbox, and the pull rod is not only no longer very inclined forward but remains within the two arms simulating a triangle, but actually having attachments to the hub carrier that are multi-link. The pull rod on the SF-23 was very long and reached the gearbox floor, while now it is decidedly shorter because it stops halfway up the gearbox, a sign that Enrico Cardile‘s staff has tried to maintain the advantage of lower weights compared to the push-rod layout, while freeing up the lower area for aerodynamics.
In a more traditional concept, Ferrari has pushed its concepts to the extreme and, almost certainly, has not yet found the ideal setup for the rear that, however, has ample development margins.
Fred Vasseur emphasizes that performance is derived from various components, and there isn’t a single part that can yield a significant five-tenths improvement on the car. To close the gap, improvement is required in all aspects. While the team has taken a decent step forward, continuous progress is necessary in every area of the car.
Undoubtedly, aerodynamics play a crucial role, and the team has upcoming updates in the works. The French manager acknowledges that everyone is working on their updates. The key focus is on delivering updates that contribute to the overall improvement and development of the car.
The game, therefore, seems clear: Ferrari is currently experiencing Red Bull’s supremacy, so much so that even Sergio Perez manages to stay ahead of Charles Leclerc, but the Italian side is trying to expedite the arrival of the first development package that will involve aerodynamics but also the rear suspension.
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