Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur has announced that the Maranello team will introduce a final minor upgrade to its SF-24 single-seater at the upcoming United States Grand Prix, which will take place at the 5.513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin on Sunday, October 20, marking the Scuderia’s last development update for this F1 campaign.
Despite much of the attention being on the intense battle between Red Bull and McLaren, the Italian remains in the fight for the constructors’ championship, trailing McLaren by 75 points with six races still to go until the end of the season. While confirming the update for the Circuit of the Americas, the French manager emphasized that the Maranello team’s primary focus has now shifted to preparing for next year’s car.
“We all know that we already started the development of the next car, and we try to do our best to have small upgrades at the next one [race]. I think it will be probably the last one for everybody; that will be true for us, but it will be true for the other teams. Now it’s so tight overall in the last four or five, six races, if you have a look on the grid, it may get tight and every single bit can make a difference.” – Fred Vasseur explained.
Ferrari’s race at the 4.94-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit last Sunday took a turn for the worse during a frustrating qualifying session. Charles Leclerc faced issues with tire preparation and had a Q3 lap deleted, while Carlos Sainz crashed out, leaving both drivers on the back foot for the rest of the weekend. Starting from ninth and 10th on the grid, the Italian side opted for a split strategy. Carlos Sainz pitted early in an attempt to recover positions after losing ground on the first lap, while Charles Leclerc extended his stint before making his sole stop later in the race.
The Monegasque driver ultimately secured fifth place, pressuring George Russell for fourth in the final stages of the Singapore Grand Prix, while Carlos Sainz held on to seventh, struggling on worn hard tires.
Asked about the choice to diverge on strategy, Frederic Vasseur explained:
“To start [on] soft, you can make one position perhaps. But if you want to be aggressive, you will pit lap 12 or 15 like Lewis [Hamilton] did – you don’t have another choice. At least to start with medium, we had the opportunity to extend, the scenario of the race was a bit different and I think it was a good strategy. But the fact that we split the cars to do one early stop and then another one who extended was also the good call I think and it went pretty well due to the track position of the stint.” – the Ferrari team boss concluded.
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