Rene Arnoux praises Ferrari’s feat in Melbourne and criticizes Sergio Perez. Ex-Formula 1 driver Rene Arnoux praises Ferrari's feat in Australia.

Despite the overwhelming victory at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, it is obviously too early and decidedly unrealistic to think of a Ferrari capable of challenging Red Bull for the remaining 21 races on the Formula 1 calendar.

However, the performance at the Albert Park circuit represents another piece of evidence of how the Maranello team continues to move in the right direction, and the Suzuka stage, scheduled for a week from now, will be another test bench to assess the growth of the SF24 on an extremely selective circuit like the Japanese one.

Interviewed by the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Renè Arnoux also emphasized the splendid performance of the red car in Melbourne, praising a Scuderia Ferrari team that seems to be getting closer and closer to Red Bull: “The red cars had a great race. Sainz was really perfect in how and how much he managed to be decisive”.

“In general, the car was competitive both in qualifying and in the race. Of course, Verstappen was missing due to a technical problem, but Ferrari did well to be there. They exploited the weekend excellently. Besides, from the first GP, we understood that the car was much better than that of 2023”.

Speaking instead of the gap between the prancing horse and the Milton Keynes team, the Frenchman commented: “It is much closer to Red Bull, in Australia, we had full confirmation of this. Not yet quite at the level of Red Bull, but almost. It is also true that Red Bull has only one car ahead. Perez is a number 2, sometimes 3. He often disappears”.

The criticism of Sergio Perez offers an important reflection in terms of the constructor’s title. While aiming for the driver’s title, with Max Verstappen in such a state of grace, is quite a complicated task, Frederic Vasseur has instead set his sights on the constructors, with Ferrari trailing by 4 points from the top after three Grands Prix.

Should Perez sink again into the difficulties encountered especially in the second half of the past season, the consistency of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in terms of placements could prove decisive at the end of the season, at least to bring one of the two titles back to Maranello.