During the Australian GP, Ferrari put an end to Red Bull’s dominant streak as Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completed a sensational 1-2 for the team at the Albert Park street circuit. However, despite his heroics, Carlos Sainz believes that Ferrari will not be able to match up to Red Bull in the upcoming races, unless a planned upgrade package is introduced for the SF-24.
Autosport quoted Sainz, It’s going to be tough to keep it up there in every track until we bring an upgrade to close that gap that we saw in Bahrain and Jeddah.”
Even though Sainz won in Australia, Red Bull are still by far the strongest team on the grid. The Milton-Keynes-based team scored a possible 87 out of 88 points in the two races leading up to Melbourne.
According to Carlos Sainz, Ferrari needs a major #F1 upgrade to bridge the gap to Red Bull, despite a promising Australian GP win.
Full story https://t.co/NloSv5uuNE
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) March 31, 2024
That being said, Ferrari has plenty of positives to take back from their trip to Australia. While Red Bull struggled with understeer and excessive front graining, the SF-24 looked pretty good on its tires. Tire degradation was a big problem for Ferrari last year and this was one of the major reasons why Leclerc couldn’t match Verstappen in the races despite finishing on the pole position a handful of times.
Team principal, Fred Vasseur also commended the work done on the 2024 car. According to Sky Sports, the Frenchman dubbed the SF-24 a well-balanced car that is “By the way, much easier to develop.”
Ferrari ready to mount pressure on Red Bull as 2024 battle intensifies
Vasseur is keen to make the most of the momentum the team has gathered after their epic result in Australia. In 2022 and 2023, Red Bull did not have any real competition to bother them. However, Vasseur believes that 2024 won’t be so easy for the Austrian stable.
According to him, Ferrari is the perfect candidate to end Max Verstappen’s run of dominance in the sport. While the team has done a good job of developing the SF-24, the upcoming upgrades will only make them better, adding more pressure on Red Bull.
Frederic Vasseur believes Australia is proof that Ferrari can cause problems for Red Bull:
“When they are under pressure, they will make more mistakes, too.”#F1 #RedBullRacing #Ferrari #CarlosSainz #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/vdSy488YO7
— Zohair Haddioui | #JapaneseGP (@ZohairHaddiouii) March 30, 2024
With a real challenge now in front of them, Vasseur feels that Red Bull will be boxed into a corner. As quoted by RacingNews365 the Frenchman said, “When they [Red Bull] are under pressure that they will make mistakes. That means that we have to continue in this direction.”
Ferrari’s first upgrade package of the year is scheduled to come at the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP held at the iconic Imola circuit.
