Frédéric Vasseur took stock at the end of the pre-season tests, emphasizing the progress made in terms of race pace, drivability, and tire management. However, the Team Principal of the Prancing Horse admits Red Bull is still ahead of everyone.
As the pre-season tests in Sakhir, Bahrain come to a close, it’s time for Ferrari to assess the situation. Of course these are not definitive judgments but an understanding of the behavioral and performance trends of the SF-24.
The new Red car seems to have started well. A car that is easier to drive, less temperamental, and sensitive to the wind. Consistent in pace and tire management, especially on the harder compounds (there’s work to do on the C3, though). Confirming these impressions is the Team Principal of the Prancing Horse, Frédéric Vasseur.
“We have made progress in terms of ease of driving and consistency in the long runs over the last two days, so I think we have made progress,” the French manager immediately said. “Then it’s always a bit difficult to know where we stand in terms of pure performance because we don’t know how much fuel the others are consuming.”
“The margin is so tight – at least behind Red Bull – that 10 kg of fuel can drop you from second to sixth place. So for now, we focus on ourselves and the fact that the car must be easy to drive, at least in the long runs.”
The SF-23 was a competitive car in a single fast lap, but it faded in the race like a short-lit fuse. This year, at least for now, the trend seems to be very different.
“Last year we got better results in qualifying than in the race. At the end of the season, we had five or six poles, but we only won one race, so we did better in qualifying. Yesterday, Carlos did good stints. We can only compare with those who also covered race distances, so we are sure they were running with a full tank. It’s better to focus on the drivers’ feelings rather than performance.”
“I don’t know what ‘transition year’ means. Everyone keeps talking about it, but we can’t stay home and wait for things to evolve. We know it’s difficult because Red Bull has a clear advantage. We’ll see next weekend if they have an undeniable advantage. We won’t stop: we will continue to develop, to work. Last year, we managed to recover over the course of the season. We need to maintain this diligence.”
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Ferrari has conducted encouraging race simulations. They did it yesterday with Sainz and today with Leclerc, but it’s complicated to say if and how they can compete with Red Bull. It is impossible to know what fuel loads Milton Keynes’ team used: during his simulation, Verstappen never did consecutive stints. He stopped at the end of each run, and the team probably topped up the tank at least partially.
“It’s difficult to know because we don’t know if they’re running the car with 20 or 80 kilos, with a difference of 2.5 seconds, and so it’s very difficult to draw conclusions. But if they do a race simulation, the approach is different. They did one yesterday, but it was long before Carlos, with a different track, so it’s too early. Now we have a week of waiting; let’s focus on ourselves and see what we can do.”
To conclude, Fred Vasseur emphasized the enormous differences compared to last season’s tests in Bahrain, as if to demonstrate how much things have changed with the first car born under his management. And it’s true because the SF-24, at least for now, has taken important steps forward. Now it will be necessary to understand how decisive they will be for the 2024 season of the Maranello team.
“Compared to Bahrain last year, at the beginning of the season, we made a huge step in terms of consistency and degradation. It was already better at the end of the 2023 season. Now it’s a matter of consistency but also of pure performance and seeing where the qualifying will be, but I think at some point you will have a kind of convergence of performances between everyone. I hope also with Red Bull.”
“But every single tenth of a second will be crucial. And today, after two days, it is very difficult to know where we stand in terms of pure performance on a lap. Because we have no idea about the fuel of the others, and this makes a huge difference in terms of rankings. If you add two or three tenths to someone, you go from second to tenth place,” Fred Vasseur concluded.
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