Scuderia Ferrari has been suffering tremendously over the past month. Its Formula 1 car, the SF-24, seems to have lost the proper working point. Moreover, as if that weren’t enough, the Maranello team continues to lose key personnel. The latest departure is that of technical director Enrico Cardile, as the Italian aerodynamicist has recently terminated his contract with Ferrari after working in Maranello for almost two decades. He did so in order to accept an offer from Aston Martin, a highly respectable role. In short, another piece of the Prancing Horse has left.
The working group previously forged by former team principal Mattia Binotto practically no longer exists. This scenario doesn’t necessarily have to be seen negatively since, ultimately, the tenure of the bespectacled engineer who grew up at Ferrari was fraught with issues. Frederic Vasseur arrived without much expectation, yet slowly and progressively showed that there was indeed room for improvement. Until the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, the historic Italian team had shown steady progress. From then on, something broke, a context that has resurfaced more than once within the Maranello team.
In this case, we are talking about the failure to make the expected leap in quality from the aerodynamic updates, which should be carefully considered alongside another fact that perhaps not everyone has noted. We are referring to Ferrari’s inability to extract the right performance even with the aerodynamic package introduced at the Imola circuit. Yes, because even without the new floor, the car does not work, and the same porpoising effect is present. This effect stems from Ferrari’s narrow setup window, which, depending on the track layout, just cannot work well. In short, the aero-mechanical compromise is lacking.
Blaming all the problems on the new updates introduced in Spain is wrong. The proof of this was evident at the British Grand Prix, where, without the new floor rejected after practice, Ferrari was beaten by Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes. Many problems stem from a setup that cannot handle the transition between slow and fast corners because when the operating window is too short, something always remains uncovered. This is the current situation of the historic Italian team, which is working tirelessly to change the performance narrative of the last four races.
A week of rest and then off to Hungary for the next round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship. The temperatures will be significantly higher than those encountered in England, and the setup compromise will undoubtedly be less complicated. These are two factors that should help Ferrari, which is determined to optimize the weekend spent in the East. To do this, the number one goal remains the same: to find the working point of the SF-24 car, which must be well balanced. It won’t be easy to get out of this moment of technical impasse because morale is not high, and motivation is not always easy to “ignite.”
From an operational standpoint, we are talking about the latest updates. Team principal Frederic Vasseur believes that the data collected at the Silverstone circuit is very important because when mistakes are made, you can learn from them. They have figured out how to eliminate aerodynamic bouncing, they say, managing the car’s ground clearance better. In Formula 1, words don’t carry much weight, as only actions make a difference. Some believe that at the Hungaroring circuit, the new aerodynamic package can be used due to the lack of fast corners that trigger bouncing.
However, at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the fourteenth round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the extreme speed of this track will not allow the use of the latest aerodynamic updates. According to information gathered by the editorial team of FUnoanalisitecnica, Ferrari’s goal is not to diversify the package based on the layout. On the contrary, the target is to make it work on all circuits and, as a result, unlock the yet-unexpressed performance of the upgrades. More downforce is seen in the data, but the track does not reflect this. Comparative tests will continue because the calculations from the English data need confirmation.
For this reason, we cannot rule out that during Friday’s free practice session in Hungary, another test will be conducted in order to enhance the understanding of the new SF-24 aerodynamic package. Meanwhile, work is being done tirelessly to widen the setup range of the SF-24 because it is currently the biggest headache that significantly limits the car’s performance, regardless of the technical version on the track. Speculating on how many months of delay might accumulate is a futile exercise. This does not mean that everything will be fixed in a couple of weeks.
On the contrary, it is still unclear how to resolve the problems. The timing of various maneuvers cannot be “scheduled” because only the supreme judge, the track, can confirm the resolution of the current problems. Meanwhile, the Maranello team must stay united. The Ferrari engineers and technicians need to maximize what they have and, if possible, take advantage of any small opportunities that may arise over a race weekend, while Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz must minimize errors as much as possible, waiting for the “better times” that, to be completely honest, may never come in the 2024 Formula 1 championship.
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