No one has been able to match Max Verstappen’s performances in the 2023 Formula 1 championship since Sergio Perez beat him in Baku. Only Ferrari briefly interrupted the Dutchman’s streak. In Singapore, at the Marina Bay street circuit, Red Bull did not show up in decent setup conditions; only completely wrong settings prevented the Milton Keynes team from winning all races in the 2023 Formula 1 season.
No opponent has challenged a dominance that harks back to the most significant dominances ever seen in F1, such as Senna and Prost’s McLarens or Schumacher and Barrichello’s Ferraris, which left crumbs for the rest of the pack. More recently, in the troubled 2020, Mercedes had a significant and dominant advantage, yet Red Bull won the last race of the year, hinting at a more intense battle in 2021, which did happen.
Competitors are called to an almost prohibitive effort to fight with Max Verstappen at the start of the 2024 season. The most credible competitors seem to be Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren in a narrow field, provided the technical offices don’t make mistakes in the evolution of the projects. At the same time, they must hope for some mistakes from Newey’s designers, something difficult to imagine, at least on paper. The RB19 closes with an advantage of 2 development packages on which to develop other solutions kept in reserve.
The technical regulations remain unchanged, and the tires as well, which could benefit the competition compared to the reigning champions’ excellent understanding. There are no guarantees that this will happen, but the hope is to have a less predictable 2024 season. With the not-so-difficult victory in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen also secured the third sole position in the all-time winners’ ranking, behind only Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari with significant steps forward from Suzuka to capitalize on
Note that the extended calendar leaves not much winter time to be ready before the new collective tests. The Abu Dhabi weekend is usually a preview of what could be seen 100 days later. Ferrari’s was bittersweet. Carlos Sainz compromised his hopes with the accident in free practice; some replaced parts on the SF-23 took away some performance and reliability. Certainly, the Spaniard faced greater difficulties in the last races, contrasting with a solid season. Leclerc’s growth was dictated by better setup options that gradually brought him back to old habits. Not surprisingly, Fred Vasseur applauded both Carlos Sainz, for the performance and the great victory in Asia, and the Monegasque for the significant reaction after Singapore. Ferrari finished ahead of Mercedes in the last 9 out of 10 races; it would have clearly grabbed the second place in the constructors’ championship without a couple of hiccups at the end of the season.
Model 676 must capitalize on this: the work is on areas with the greatest potential benefit
Like all models, the 2024 version is running in the wind tunnel. Engineers have changed some parts of the ‘first design’ with the goal of modifying what has caused problems. It is said that the rear end will have little to do with what was seen on the SF-23, as will the design of the front wing. Only the lower cone is now lowered; the deflectors will be completely redesigned to handle a different volume of air through the channels. Reducing porpoising at any height also increases the vehicle’s operability by several tenths (as Red Bull does).
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
All F1 technicians agree that an extended operating window is more useful than particularly extreme solutions. The regulations remain unchanged and have provided more reliable data to the seven-time champion-led team led by Technical Director Enrico Cardile, especially since they changed the design in Barcelona. After the summer of 2022, development could not go back or forth due to the modified regulations on the fly. That’s not the case now. From what has been learned, the updated new dress is providing improvements in terms of data transferred to the simulator. The car is much better in the simulator than looking at individual data; the drivers agree on this. It’s a bit early to know, but ideally, the target is to enable the drivers to be more comfortable and aggressive without eating the tires or sacrificing a good level in qualifying, as reported by F1 experts Giuliano Duchessa and Rosario Giuliana for formu1a.uno
To achieve this, stable load is needed in fast corners and a solid front end on long runs. Compared to the modest changes to the 2022 chassis, the chassis is largely revised. Some parts will not change much for economic reasons, such as the triangular roll-up (air-scoop entrance), which ensures a certain efficiency and meets cooling requirements. The suspension design will change in service of aerodynamics while maintaining the front push-rod and rear pull-rod.
Leave a Reply