Formula 1 is a beautiful sport; Formula 1 is a ruthless sport. Twenty drivers competing for a title, ten teams battling for the crown of best constructor. In the end, only one wins. It’s essential to start from this basic fact to temper certain judgments when analyzing the course of a championship.
The 2024 season delivered a reborn Ferrari, capable of winning five races and finishing second in the constructors’ championship, just a hair behind the champion McLaren and – quite comfortably – ahead of Red Bull, which for years had grown accustomed to showing the rest of the grid the rear end of its cars.
This is no small feat, especially considering that Maranello was coming off a season with just one isolated victory and a third-place finish behind a Mercedes team that, despite winning the same number of races this year, was soundly beaten on track.
This brief introduction is not meant to be an advertisement for the Prancing Horse, nor an exaggerated ode in a year where some things did not go as planned. It’s simply a way to explain to those fans now eager to find someone to blame that growth processes must include seasons like this – seasons where long-standing difficulties are overcome, and major flaws, while not entirely eliminated, are smoothed out and tackled with renewed vigor.
The second year under the leadership of Ferrari Frederic Vasseur has come to an end. The French manager is the man tasked with restructuring Ferrari’s racing department – a complex assignment carrying immense responsibility. Yet, even here, the trajectory is clear and upward: after a learning year in 2023, Ferrari has consolidated itself and will likely start the 2025 season not as the underdog needing to capitalize on unusual circumstances to win – a role that does not suit Ferrari – but as a team ready to shoulder the responsibility of being one of the favorites.
After the final round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there were the usual toxic factions among Ferrari fans which were racking their brains on social media to find events or episodes to blame on one driver or another to explain the second place in the constructors’ championship. Some point to Carlos Sainz’s crash in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku city circuit, others to a few underwhelming qualifying sessions from Charles Leclerc, while others scrutinize some less-than-optimal strategies. These are details that matter but, at the same time, don’t, because every team faces moments of difficulty over a 24-race campaign.
Perfection does not exist; one can strive for it, but it will be impossible not to make mistakes in the fastest, most technical, and competitive sport there is. Ferrari did not lose the championship at the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, nor did it slip away with the lackluster race in Qatar, where the other contender, McLaren, made several blunders. Ferrari lost the championship when it did not think it was in the running: at the start of the summer, precisely between the Canadian Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix, when it suffered two setbacks that marked this 2024 Formula 1 season.
On the circuit named after Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari came away with a double zero points finish after Charles Leclerc’s extraordinary victory on the streets of Monte Carlo in the Monaco Grand Prix. At the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, the Maranello technicians and engineer introduced a new aerodynamic upgrade package that turned out to be a burden instead of the delight that everyone had expected. The team took so much time to solve the issues that emerged from that upgrade, which in reality acted as a downgrade. It took the entire summer, extra efforts, and it was necessary to redesign and re-engineer crucial elements of the SF-24 to address the problems.
It was during this period that Ferrari lost precious points, putting itself in a position where it had to recover quickly. Yet, in the end, it was there, ready to take advantage of McLaren’s failures. This fact shows that the men and women working in all areas of Ferrari managed to stay on track – as often happened in the past – and to get the project back on course, aiming for something big, convincingly demonstrating that they could compete for that constructors’ title that has been missing since the 2008 championship.
This trend breaks with the past, when Ferrari would show a depressive streak after encouraging starts: the real triumph is here. This dynamic, with all the nuances, was also seen last year. This is a sign that Frederic Vasseur’s approach is beginning to produce visible results, which in the near future could turn into concrete victories.
Ferrari has nothing to regret from this season, nor should the fans, who sooner or later will have to learn to unite for the good of the cause instead of competing against each other in public, casting shadows over conspiracies and theories that are pathetically debunked by facts, such as the one claiming that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were enemies fighting for different priorities: unacceptable lies.
For two world championships, Ferrari has sown, and 2025 seems to be the year of harvest. The 677 project – the code name for the Formula 1 car whose name will be revealed in February – will be based on solid technical foundations. The whole Maranello team will be driven by a new enthusiasm, and especially by well-oiled operational procedures that have proven effective in competing at the highest levels.
This is why one should not be discouraged, why one should not be consumed by regret thinking that they have failed and missed the opportunity of a lifetime. No, Ferrari is on its journey and progressing step by step. This is how winning seasons are built in Formula 1. Nothing is improvised, nothing is invented. Work, humility, and method: this is what is needed to win, and the Maranello team has done an excellent job institutionalizing these three principles.
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