After a strong start to the 2024 Formula 1 championship with race victories at the Albert Park circuit in the Australian Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz and on the streets of Monte Carlo in the Monaco Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari appeared poised to challenge Red Bull, holding second place in the standings and some interesting prospects in May.
However, the Maranello team’s performance has since faltered, with McLaren overtaking Ferrari for second place as the SF-24 struggled after a problematic aerodynamic upgrade introduced by the Maranello technicians at the Circuit de Catalunya in the Spanish Grand Prix. In the seven races that followed, Ferrari has been working to diagnose and resolve the issues caused by that upgrade.
Despite these challenges, there have been recent signs of progress. The Monegasque driver secured pole position at the 7.004-kilometre Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and earned two podium finishes in the Belgian Grand Prix and last weekend in the Dutch Grand Prix, the latter being an unexpected result for the Italian side, especially considering the performance seen in the first two days of track action at the Zandvoort circuit.
As Frederic Vasseur reflects on Scuderia Ferrari’s current position ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, he remains steadfast in his belief that the car’s fundamental concept is solid.
“It is always a combination, but we were not very confident coming to Zandvoort,” – the French manager explained when asked by the media on this matter – “We didn’t do FP1 and in FP2, we only had one car [after a gearbox issue for Carlos Sainz], and we were a bit lost and for Charles not to have a reference was not good. We arrived in qualifying and it was not magic, but in quali, if you look on the scrubbed sets in Q3, we had a good pace – not enough to fight with [pole-sitter] Lando [Norris], but we were in better shape than the final result [showed]. I think it is a matter of details, I’m not worried for this. The [car] concept is good.” – the Ferrari team boss pointed out.
Before the summer break, the Italian side revealed that veteran technical chief Enrico Cardile would be departing to join Aston Martin, leaving Frederic Vasseur to temporarily assume his responsibilities.
As the team approaches its home race at Monza, the French manager hinted that new appointments are on the horizon: “We will do the announcement after Monza [with the structure of the team] being the announcement” – Fred Vasseur concluded.
