Ferrari 2024 F1: what's behind Maranello's low profile winter

Fred Vasseur has been a positive influence for Ferrari. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc express their gratitude. Saying otherwise would not be fair. Fred Vasseur, the manager from France, arrived in Maranello amid general skepticism but has done a commendable job. He managed a challenging corporate situation, where several technicians abandoned ship. Nevertheless, he directed the rest of the “crew” towards a recovery marked by extensive work. Yes, because the SF-23 was a quirky car inherited from the previous Mattia Binotto era.

A capricious and flawed car that, over the course of the year, was gradually improved and made decent. His positive approach brought serenity to the group. In agreement with the technical director Enrico Cardile and the leadership, John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna, the development of the Italian single-seater was carried forward. A titanic effort to overturn incorrect settings towards significantly more effective technical approaches.

They did what they could, considering that the current regulatory framework includes the budget cap, a constraint that severely limits the ability to modify an F1 car during the championship. The continuous data collection worked. A constant examination put together in every single session. The goal was to create a certain know-how to feed into Project 676, a technical proposal aiming for performance improvements by 2024.

Talking about competitiveness at this moment makes no sense. The simulator is unable to define the capabilities that the next Maranello aero-mechanical work will offer. We are not talking about load points or gained seconds but rather about facts related to the efforts expended. Later, we will come out with a dedicated article on the innovations that “demand” a reversal of a situation not conducive to Ferrari.

Ferrari: Targeted work that Carlos Sainz hopes to exploit to the fullest
The sense of this article is driven by the “discursive will” on the desires of the Italian team. Let’s start with a great banality: Ferrari wants to get the most out of its product. Bearing in mind that not even in the Maranello Racing Division they have an idea of the value concerning Project 676, setting a target is entirely useless. Therefore, openly declaring the results they want to achieve not only makes no sense but would also be quite foolish.

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So, here is the low profile. A grand presentation that the Italian team will leave to the other teams, aware that it is time to reset the talk and follow through with actions. The presumed significant improvements need to be confirmed on the track. Enrico Cardile and company have stated that the “structural defects” of the SF-23 have been corrected, and this is the only important news we can report, awaiting the unveiling on February 13, 2024.

Everything else matters little. Within the media framework related to the red team, we report some hopes from those eagerly awaiting the near future. We refer to Carlos Sainz, not the Ferrari fan but his great father. The two-time rally world champion, as well as a three-time Dakar winner, hopes that his son can finally have a competitive car. In doing so, he describes Carlitos’ characteristics precisely.

He describes him as a still-young driver who carries a significant amount of experience, matured in the course of his F1 career. In fact, the Madrid native rally driver claims that the Iberian driving for Ferrari has a specific characteristic: he doesn’t stop growing. There are other colleagues who reach a “status” and then stop. Not him, as he continues to progress year after year.

For this reason, he hopes that the Maranello team has forged a competitive vehicle through which he can showcase the distinctive traits that set him apart. The red team still lacks a step to become great in this second part of the regulatory era that has placed wing cars at the center of the program. Climbing another step, capable of specifying the role that the Italian single-seater will necessarily play next year: the primary challenger to Red Bull.