F1, Ferrari: where Maranello team has made progress with SF-24 even without updates. How the Ferrari SF-24 car has progressed even without developments.

In this early part of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, Scuderia Ferrari has clearly established itself as the second force on track behind Red Bull, also taking advantage of Milton Keynes’ team’s lackluster weekend and difficulties at the Albert Park circuit to snatch an unexpected victory and, even better, a one-two finish with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in Melbourne, in the third race of the F1 campaign.

Last season, it was necessary to wait until the late stage of the championship, in Singapore at the Yas Marina street circuit, to collect the first and only win for the Maranello team, which was also the only non-Red Bull victory of the 2023 Formula 1 season, and then only Las Vegas posed a clear threat to the RB19 cars, which clearly dominated the rest of the championship. Some unfavorable conditions for Max Verstappen and a good phase of development of the SF-23 made Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore and Charles Leclerc’s performance in Las Vegas possible; this year, however, it came at the beginning, with a conventional Ferrari SF-24 that seems to offer wide margins of improvement to the technicians of the Italian team. Not only through upgrades, which will arrive in massive quantities only at the Imola circuit next month, but also thanks to the understanding of a more coherent and stable aero-mechanical platform, which has already provided significant progress to the technicians.

FERRARI SF-24: TIRE DEGRADATION UNDER CONTROL, NOW ‘IGNITION’ NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

During the pre-season testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit, the leap forward compared to the SF-23 in medium-fast corners was immediately evident. The 2024 car generates more downforce from the car floor, it’s easier and more predictable, thanks to a stable and consistent aerodynamic platform, but above all, consistent, without significant load variations between entry and exit phases of corners or in yaw, as well as when cornering with lateral load, eliminating also the annoying sensitivity to the wind that created strong instability last year, something instead the Mercedes W15 is suffering from this season. As both Technical Director Enrico Cardile and team principal Frederic Vasseur had announced, the SF-24 is new at 95% and this could immediately suggest an optimization that would require more races, which then happened and is still ongoing ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.

We examined the difficulties of the SF-24 car in qualifying, especially in Q3 where the last tenth needs to be found to extract the maximum potential from the new tire. In that phase, Ferrari still needs to improve. It’s a matter of tire management, as Enrico Cardile pointed out, followed by the Team Principal who explained the statements of his chief engineer. In Qualifying, the Italian side still doesn’t use the tires to the best of its ability and the Maranello technicians need to find a way to improve on this aspect, the French engineer confirmed.

Indeed, excellent tire warm-up helps in executing the single lap, but also in the race in the early stages of the stint where the SF-24 still lags behind the RB20 single-seater. Immediately after the testing session, however, both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had identified reactivity as the main area of improvement to follow for the SF-24. While waiting for upgrades, an important setup work has already been done on the track, which has allowed a significant step forward compared to the launch version.

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FROM BAHRAIN’S DIFFICULTIES TO AUSTRALIA’S DOMINANCE

The Ferrari SF-24 lacks a bit of performance to be at the level of the RB20 car – net of further progress by Christian Horner’s team – but the first version of Maranello’s new single-seater has solved many of the limitations that were present with the SF-23 and made a significant performance leap in the race. Lando Norris recently stated how Ferrari is probably the team that has made the most significant leap forward and the one that has impressed the most, putting his McLaren behind the SF-24.

A progression that has continued even during the first three races of this Formula 1 season, with Enrico Cardile’s technicians being able to unlock further potential without making significant upgrades. During the winter, a lot of work was done on the mechanics of the SF-24, with a revised front suspension in the anti-dive effect, which was increased and an innovative rear suspension, still pull rod, with completely different kinematics and schemes. The margin of development thanks to the knowledge and understanding of these new elements in Maranello was believed to be quite high, so much so that they planned the first significant upgrade package only at Imola, aware that more performance can be found from a better setup than from an upgrade, as repeatedly stated last season by Fred Vasseur.

Awaiting the SF-24 evolution version which is coming to the Imola circuit, through the understanding of the car, the Italian team managed to reverse a situation that in Bahrain saw them, from a certain point of view, also struggling. Despite the strong evolution of the front suspension, the SF-24 immediately showed that it had maintained a typical characteristic of Maranello’s latest single-seaters, namely sharpness under braking, albeit with different feelings for the drivers who felt greater instability on the Bahrain track, also due to a braking system setup not optimized in the best way. What was lost, instead, was the strength in slow corners and in traction. However, the setup work helped to recover performance precisely at low speeds.

Comparing the SF-24 with competing cars, we can underline how the Italian car has made an important difference in the slow section compared to the McLaren car since Bahrain. The MCL38 is a complex car to drive in the slow and already from Sakhir they were losing ground to the SF-24, with a gap that worsened in the following two events, even losing 2-3 tenths in just two corners of this type at the Jeddah circuit. In Australia, the team led by Andrea Stella even lost 6 tenths per lap in slow corners compared to Ferrari in the race, while in qualifying the gap was about half a second. Regarding the Red Bull performance, the comparison becomes more complex; however, the trend confirms that if in Bahrain the SF-24 suffered in those sections of the track, both in Jeddah and in Australia, be it in qualifying – where Red Bull still performed at its best – or in the race, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc managed to make a difference against Christian Horner’s drivers in the slow sections. A reversal that saw the SF-24 lose some time in fast corners, which means Suzuka will be an interesting and important test bench regarding this aspect.

The excellent Italian car has therefore progressed even without developments in this early part of the season, thanks to the optimization of the launch package. However, this process can only last a few races, and that’s why the Italian team had already planned, even before the pre-season testing session, and without accelerating the production of new macro components, the important upgrade package for the Imola race weekend in Italy. This will serve to give further boost in terms of performance and extraction of the current potential, thanks to a new understanding process that will start on a different basis.