It was a bittersweet weekend, the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna GP, for Scuderia Ferrari. A race finished in third and fifth place, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively. The Maranello team, with the introduction of the first major development package of the season, managed to place a car on the podium in the home GP, finishing the race only seven seconds behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and six behind Lando Norris’s McLaren. A positive result, considering the final gaps and those often incurred last season, but it leaves a bit of bitterness for not achieving what perhaps, after the free practice results, seemed within reach: something better than the lowest step of the podium with the Monegasque driver, behind the McLaren.
A race that the team of Frédéric Vasseur files away with the certainty, on one hand, of having made a step forward with the updates introduced (whose potential is still to be fully unlocked, also due to the characteristics not very suitable to the SF-24 at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari track) since, as mentioned, the gap from the leaders has been reduced, but equally aware of still having areas to work on, especially in tire management, to intervene as soon as possible to become part of the fight for victory. A race analyzed on his blog “Profondo Rosso” by Italian journalist and Ferrari insider Leo Turrini, who first acknowledged the progress made by the Maranello team with the arrival of the technical innovations.
“To challenge the usual Max Verstappen (not very skilled, eh?) for the triumph was not Ferrari. Instead, it was McLaren. […] If at the end of a 63-lap Grand Prix, without safety car interventions, Charles Leclerc is just seven seconds or so from Super Max, well, it means that the SF-24 has made a step forward in performance. […] This is a good thing, without a doubt.”
However, Leo Turrini did not hide a certain disappointment, perhaps stemming from the expectations before the race, for seeing Ferrari finish behind McLaren, which was never a threat until recently. An inevitably negative result given the Italian team’s goals.
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“But I would not be intellectually honest if I did not mention that the Maranello team was overtaken by McLaren. […] So, we are not there yet. If Ferrari were to become steadily the third force in the championship, even with reduced gaps from Red Bull, the result could not be considered satisfactory. […] The Drake used to say that the second place is simply the first of the losers. Imagine the third.” – the Italian journalist pointed out at the end of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Therefore, despite the steps forward made by Scuderia Ferrari, according to Leo Turrini, Ferrari should think big, as McLaren did, which, starting from the back of the grid in the 2023 Formula 1 championship, did not aim for the middle of the pack but for victory. A change in mentality in Maranello would be desirable, starting from the fact that any result is achievable, as McLaren teaches.
“What McLaren is doing can also be done at Maranello, even without waiting for Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey.” – Leo Turrini concluded.
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