F1, Ferrari: why team orders in 2024 Australian GP didn't penalize Charles Leclerc amid race win

With the SF-24, Scuderia Ferrari has achieved three podiums finishes and a race victory after the first three rounds of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, whereas last season, the red car didn’t go beyond a fourth place finish with Carlos Sainz. This perfectly captures the evolutionary step of the Prancing Horse. However, today, Max Verstappen was forced to retire from the race at the fourth lap. The brakes of his Red Bull RB20 car failed, depriving the Maranello team of the chance to understand if the Dutch champion was beatable in Australian Grand Prix. This is also considering the big gap that Ferrari was able to build against the other Red Bull car, that of Sergio Perez, who finished 56 seconds behind Carlos Sainz.

Obviously, this doesn’t devalue the Italian side’s victory at the Albert Park circuit, not by any means. However, triumphing in Australia with the Dutch driver at the finish line would have undoubtedly added greater value to the achievement in this third round of the 2024 Formula 1 season. Fred Vasseur enjoys his appearance in front of the media microphones at the end of the race and mentions the previous reasoning: the French manager argues that they cannot know how it would have gone with Max Verstappen on track until the end of the Australian Grand Prix, reminding everyone that there are still 21 races to fight against the reigning world champion.

However, success didn’t come by chance, as the SF-24 showed truly optimal adaptation to the Albert Park circuit since the first free practice session on Friday. We’re talking about one of the cleanest weekends since the French manager has been employed by the Ferrari top management in the start of the previous championship. The encouraging factor within the Australian competitive context concerns tire management capabilities. Graining compromised the performance of many cars, while the Maranello car managed this phenomenon very well.

This is evidenced by the times during the first stint, where Carlos Sainz was capable of lapping almost a second faster than Sergio Perez, who struggled to keep the tires in the correct operating window. The same goes towards the end of the race when Charles Leclerc, two laps from the end, set the fastest lap, a 1.19.813 which was almost six tenths faster than the best performance of Sergio Perez. Data that speaks for itself. But, as mentioned, the counterproof doesn’t exist and will never exist. So, all we can do is wait for two weeks, as in Japan, at the Suzuka circuit, the challenge with Red Bull will reignite.

Ferrari SF-24: Leclerc Was Not Hindered by the Strategy. Normal Race Circumstances

Everything went perfectly for Scuderia Ferrari in Australia. The SF-24 is easily understandable by technicians and drivers, which gives the single-seater a much better base to develop over the weekend, as achieving a certain degree of consistency is much simpler compared to 2023. Although it’s still early to draw any clear conclusions after only three championship rounds, we can confirm that the future looks promising for the Italian side. The package of updates coming in April could bring about a significant step forward for the red team. This is Ferrari’s goal, to try to further close the gap with Red Bull especially on tracks with characteristics less ideal for the SF-24.

Moreover, there’s an interesting fact. Over the past month, we’ve emphasized the need to wait for at least 3 races to allow teams to maximize the material available and consequently extract the maximum performance from the cars. Here in Melbourne, the Maranello team showed that in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with the same car seen this weekend at the Albert Park circuit, something more could have been achieved in terms of overall results and performance. Perhaps this is the real potential of the SF-24? A car already capable of fighting head-to-head with the Austrian cars? The question remains unanswered at the moment, and as mentioned, we’ll know more in Suzuka without Max Verstappen’s absence.

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Yes, because in Japan, it’s not guaranteed that the red car will be as competitive, considering the completely different and much more technical layout. At this point, there’s another question concerning the performance difference between the Ferrari drivers. Carlos Sainz seemed quite comfortable with the tires, managing the compounds without getting into trouble. On the contrary, Charles Leclerc suffered much more and, in fact, never managed to challenge his Maranello teammate when it mattered the most. In all this, we must remember an important element.

The Italian pit wall ordered its drivers to maintain positions on the track, prohibiting the fight for the first position once Charles Leclerc gained a place against Lando Norris and arrived behind Carlos Sainz. The reason is simple: Ferrari decided to prioritize tire management at that moment, to assert dominance and keep the McLaren cars at bay. As the Monegasque himself stated, when he was stopped at the pits on the tenth lap, he understood that the different strategy wouldn’t have favored him. Race circumstances, in short. Starting from fourth position, the Maranello team decided to cover the position on Oscar Piastri to avoid traffic.

In conclusion, we certainly can’t state that the historic Italian team made a strategic mistake. On the contrary, the choices made by the Maranello pit wall ensured a comfortable one-two finish in Melbourne. However, this type of approach, apart from the pace on the track, took away, albeit from the net perspective, that small chance for the Monegasque to close in on the exhaust pipes of number 55 and try to overtake his teammate. Charles Leclerc didn’t make a fuss, but as always, his expression in front of the cameras doesn’t lie, and personal satisfaction wasn’t sky-high at the end of the race. On the contrary, he pointed out to being happy for the team’s result in the Australian Grand Prix.

Regarding our race analysis, we can add that even if the strategy wasn’t pro-Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver would hardly have been able to snatch the position from the Spaniard, also considering that although the feeling with the SF-24 was better than in qualifying, today Carlos Sainz had a more solid race. The Spaniard thoroughly deserved the victory and probably had a few more tenths to exploit if his Ferrari teammate had gotten closer.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24