After Charles Leclerc’s victory in Monaco, Ferrari seems lost, unable to continue the growth that started at the end of 2023. According to many, this growth should have allowed the team, with the ongoing developments, to compete on equal terms with Red Bull and McLaren for significant goals this season. However, Ferrari has proven, even at Silverstone, to be the fourth force on the field behind McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes, still struggling with understanding the SF-24 and managing the tires, which remains enigmatic for the technicians and still dealing with porpoising.
This phenomenon, which seemed to have disappeared, reappeared after the developments introduced in Spain: a phenomenon not visible from the data, which is shaking the drivers’ confidence and causing harmful effects on the car’s stability and tires, leading the technicians to question the reliability of the latest Evo of the SF-24 and to conduct comparative tests in England: Charles Leclerc with the evolved car and Carlos Sainz with the Imola Spec. These tests ultimately led to the decision to use the car without the latest improvements: a step back to maximize performance.
This decision, made to maximize the drivers’ confidence in the car (more stable in fast corners) and performance, did not bring the desired results, as Ferrari finished the British race in fifth place with Carlos Sainz and out of the points with Charles Leclerc, also due to a strategic error. It was a negative weekend, the third in a row for the Monegasque, which both the team and the driver want to put behind them as soon as possible, starting from the next Hungarian GP in Budapest. To do this, it will be necessary to extract the maximum potential from the car (in Barcelona Spec, with more load in slow corners) and have drivers free from mistakes. This is the viewpoint expressed by Umberto Zapelloni on “TopSpeed Blog.”
“A perfect weekend will be needed. […] And for the weekend to be perfect, Charles Leclerc is needed, who after the triumph in Monte Carlo has tangled himself up. The SF-24 has not grown, but Charles has also contributed by making a few too many mistakes and then accepting very risky strategic choices. […] For Charles, the moment is complicated, perhaps one of the most complicated of his young career.”
A difficult moment stemming from the team’s technical difficulties, the recent disappointing races (between wrong strategies and his own mistakes), and the perception of not being fully the leader of a team that seems already oriented towards 2025, and ready to welcome Lewis Hamilton: you just need to know how the 2025 car is referred to by the GeS personnel.
“After getting the weight of victory off his shoulders at his home track, he dreamed of coasting downhill. Then came Canada, Spain, Austria, and Silverstone. […] Add to this the fact that he must have also known how they call the 2025 Ferrari in the company. […] They call it Hamilton… […] He should have used 2024 to take control of Ferrari, to become the leading man before Lewis arrives. Hamilton has returned to winning and Sainz, despite one less race, is very close in the standings. Save Private Charles before he falls into total depression.”
The driver’s difficulty is compounded by the team’s, which is currently without a technical director after Enrico Cardile’s departure. Fred Vasseur, interim DT, could be announcing the successor in the coming weeks, although it’s a surprise name currently involved with a rival team.
“In the meantime, the team needs to be fixed after Enrico Cardile’s departure. […] Fred Vasseur has taken on the interim role of technical director. If he hasn’t named anyone, it’s because he already has the right person in mind, but he can’t reveal it yet. […] It won’t be Loic Serra, who will become Head of Chassis Performance Engineering. It won’t be Adrian Newey. […] The hope is that Vasseur already has a signed contract in his drawer.”
Leave a Reply