Ferrari has been uncharacteristically silent about any progress this off-season. By this time every year, there is a lot of noise around the Italian team being back in form and hoping to challenge for the championship. While there have been those perennial reports of some good gains and the 2024 car being a beast, Ferrari has chosen to keep their cards close to the chest. Ferrari ambassador Marc Gene has played to the same strategy despite mentioning Red Bull as their benchmark.
Appearing at the 76th Mudno Deportivo gala, Gene mentioned his thoughts about the 2024 prospects for the Maranello outfit. As quoted by F1 Maximaal, he also contrasted their position relative to last year.
Gene said, “But it is true that at this point last year, we were not fully convinced of the car based on what the simulator told us, and this year the sensations are very different.” The 49-year-old Spaniard also toned down any expectations of challenging Red Bull, despite the positive hopes for a “better car”.
He added, “They [Red Bull] are of course the favorites. It might be a bit optimistic to say that we will fight with them for the title. I think we will take a step and compete with them regularly.”
Still, Gene feels until they test the car on track after the launch on February 13, they will never know where they stand. Just like Ferrari are feeling good about their car in the simulator, even Toto Wolff has made similar remarks about the Mercedes’ W15. The Silver Arrows boss highlighted that their 2024 car also looks to be much more competitive than its two predecessors.
Does Ferrari crumble under the weight of high expectations?
There are a lot of expectations from Ferrari every season, given how big of a cultural phenomenon the Prancing Horse is in Italy. So, whenever they win, it is a pride for the entire nation, and as much of a disgrace when they struggle and lose. Even Red Bull boss Christian Horner highlighted this aspect of the Italian outfit.
Horner labeled the Italian media as “absolutely brutal” and such media pressure can be intimidating for any sports team in the world. The scrutiny of every move and huge expectations may be too much to bear at times for Ferrari.
Naturally, an F1 team needs to focus on several aspects when they are looking to get into a winning position. So, any external weight of expectations can create unnecessary pressure that may be counter-productive. That has been the case with Ferrari for a while now.
In 2022, they rose to prominence to challenge Red Bull but faltered later on in the year which did not go well with Italian fans and media. This scenario worsened in the entirety of 2023. The Maranello team won only one race as opposed to 2022’s four wins.
Carlos Sainz was the only driver to stop Red Bull’s dominance with his Singapore GP win. But overall, Ferrari got fewer wins, podiums, and poles and they would certainly want to improve that if they are unable to pose a championship challenge in 2024. As for their last championship victory, it has been 16 long years since the constructors championship came to Maranello in 2008 and the drivers’ title a year before that.
