Steady progress. Ferrari leaves the 4.381-kilometre Hungaroring in Budapest reassured for two key reasons: first, the development path of the SF-24 car is the right one; second, Charles Leclerc was able to complete a race without issues, showcasing his undeniable qualities and gaining a morale boost that a fourth place rarely gives.
To clear any misunderstandings: the Scuderia had highlighted the Hungaroring round with a red double underline, considering it one of the tracks most suited to the red car’s characteristics. Maranello’s expectations were to aim for a podium, but the gap to McLaren and Red Bull remains significant, while the battle with Mercedes for the third position is more open.
Therefore, Ferrari cannot be satisfied with Charles Leclerc’s fourth place and Carlos Sainz’s sixth place, considering his poor start, as the team remains the fourth force.
Frederic Vasseur pointed out that the team has halved the gap to the front compared to last year, limiting the margin to 20 seconds. However, these numbers hold little weight when McLaren has surpassed all expectations, outperforming Red Bull in the same timeframe.
The positive news is that Ferrari is heading to Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix with the updated floor used in Budapest. The idea of reverting to the Imola configuration, as was done at Silverstone, has been rightly abandoned. The feared bouncing in Hungary did not occur, so the floor edge reinforcements worked, providing more positive feedback to the drivers.
Further tweaks will be brought to Belgium, where the bouncing effect will likely be more pronounced, but Maranello’s engineers are confident they are on the right track to climb back up the ranks.
The SF-24 car showed flashes of competitiveness in the race that even surprised the Ferrari pit wall: the data collected, especially with Charles Leclerc’s hard tires, was very encouraging, demonstrating that Ferrari still suffers from a too narrow tire usage window. In a limited temperature range, the red car was briefly the fastest on track, while it struggled more with the medium tires.
Work on the setup in the Ardennes will aim to widen the tire usage window: Pirelli has chosen the three mid-range compounds (C2, C3, C4) for a track that has been resurfaced and offers significantly more grip, with lap times expected to be much lower than last year.
Ferrari wants to head into the summer break with a smile, to plan the second part of the 2024 Formula 1 championship without too much pressure, awaiting Fred Vasseur, interim technical director, to step down from this role and announce the new team structure. And we can expect some surprises…
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