Ferrari’s 2024 Formula 1 season can still be considered positive. The Maranello team, after a difficult period under Mattia Binotto’s management, has been able, with great effort, to recover and is probably now on the right path to returning to the position that best suits such a historic team as the Prancing Horse — namely, the top spot.
For too many years now, we have heard the same old refrain about how the next Formula 1 season will be the one, and so on and so forth. Ferrari has not claimed the constructors’ title since 2008 or the drivers’ championship since 2007. Too long, it’s true, but over all these years, for one reason or another, the Maranello team has never managed to put together a consistent season that could truly enable it to fight for the top.
Recently, with an increasingly restrictive Formula 1 that offers little room to shake things up from one race to the next, the challenge has grown even tougher. This is compounded by technical and managerial instability in a team that has often been far from top-tier. We won’t delve too much into the Mattia Binotto era; we’ve written plenty on that and risk being repetitive.
Instead, let us focus on the excellent work being done by Frederic Vasseur. The French team principal has just completed his second year at the helm of the Ferrari Racing Department, but 2024 was his first full and true season. In 2023, he had to overhaul everything after uncovering the (to put it mildly) weaknesses of an SF-23 that was disastrous, leaving drivers, engineers, and Ferrari fans alike in despair.
Frederic Vasseur had the courage to start changing Ferrari from the moment he arrived. Even during the first laps at the Fiorano circuit after the February 2023 launch, it was clear that the car was a dud, and a technical overhaul was the first necessary step. However, time and the right people were needed. Some team members left even before the season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit, while others followed shortly after.
The focus is now entirely on the 2025 Formula 1 championship, the final year of this regulatory era, which could deliver one of the most exciting championships in recent times due to the “equalization” of performance among the top teams — something we likely will not see again from the 2026 Formula 1 season onward with the introduction of a new technical cycle. The Maranello team will have Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time Formula 1 world champion, on board alongside Charles Leclerc.
Both drivers hope to have a car capable of winning, and from the early impressions — including Frederic Vasseur’s own — it seems things are not going badly at the Prancing Horse’s factory: “The new Ferrari seems promising, but in Formula 1, everything is relative,” commented the Frenchman. “Performing well doesn’t automatically mean being ahead of the others. Red Bull and McLaren are very strong competitors, and we work every day to maximize results from the start, aware that attention will soon have to shift to 2026 and the new regulations.”
There is, therefore, a hint of optimism about Ferrari’s project for the 2025 Formula 1 campaign. Of course, it’s still December, the championship ended less than a week ago, and anticipation for the new season — perhaps more than ever — is already high, despite the months of downtime ahead. Curiosity is building, but if Ferrari maintains the improvement curve seen since the summer, there’s a sense that the Italian side could also play a leading role in 2025, perhaps for something even greater. Never say never.
— see video above —
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