Ferrari’s first win of the 2024 season, thanks to Carlos Sainz’s incredible drive just two weeks after a surgery, gave the Maranello-based team a much need confidence boost. The SF-24’s performance and Red Bull’s apparent shortcomings at the Albert Park street circuit have reportedly prompted the Scuderia to prepone their scheduled Imola upgrade package for the 2024 Japanese GP.
According to Junaid Samodien (as reported on X), reputed media outlets have suggested that Ferrari have decided to bring forward their upgrades for the next race weekend in Suzuka as opposed to their scheduled introduction at the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP.
According to information from https://t.co/HHg1EIThCL Italy, https://t.co/fNkoXUz29v and https://t.co/wBvTAwTp6l, Ferrari is considering a change of plans: the upgrade actually planned for the seventh race could be brought forward to the fourth race.
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) March 26, 2024
The Australian GP weekend exposed the RB20’s shortcomings with Max Verstappen complaining about excessive front graining leading to understeer throughout the weekend. What’s more, the SF-24 looks pound-for-pound, the 2nd fastest car on the grid – with the gap between themselves and Red Bull considerably smaller. It seems as though the team wants to capitalize on this momentum to bag a few more wins this season with an early spree of upgrades.
From the early readings of the pace differential between Red Bull and Ferrari, the iconic Italian team still has a long way to go before actually catching the Milton-Keynes based team. However, with the trajectory they are on currently, they have set themselves up perfectly for 2025 and beyond.
Ferrari looks on course to be beating Red Bull soon
The evolution of the SF-23, on this year’s car seems to have unlocked potential in the design philosophy of the current generation of Ferrari challengers. And with Lewis Hamilton joining the team next year, Ferrari looks like the best suited outfit to end the Red Bull dominance.
Hamilton will bring a whole host of championship-winning experience to the team in 2025. Ex-Ferrari race engineer, Rob Smedley even touted him to be the final piece of the jigsaw to complete the team’s coup and overthrow Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
: Red Bull’s dominance in F1 challenged by Charles Leclerc, who predicts their lead could last until 2026 due to new regulations. Christian Horner hopes Leclerc is right, but he emphasizes Red Bull’s focus on ongoing competition and rejects complacency. Despite current success,… pic.twitter.com/6Fq473FARa
— F1 Naija (@f1_naija) August 26, 2023
Another ray of hope for Ferrari would be the impending 2026 regulation overhaul. With the budget cap restrictions strictly in place, many experts believe that Red Bull will divert their attention to 2026 before even maximizing what they could have with the 2025 car, hence, giving Ferrari the impetus to catch and pass Verstappen’s incredible run in the sport.
