Ferrari is entering the 2024 season with a completely different car concept after faltering last year. The SF-24, as Frederic Vasseur highlighted previously, has 95% new components and is rather an outlier on several fronts. The team have taken such a step with the sole desire of reducing the deficit to Red Bull and winning races consistently. Charles Leclerc is happy with the Italian team’s work over the winter. But, the Monegasque made it clear that he won’t consider winning only two or three races in 2024 as the comeback of the Prancing Horse.
According to Motorsport Week, the 26-year-old said, “No, it’s not enough. I want to win as many races as possible, and we will do the count at the end of the year, to also understand where we’ll be after the first race to understand how competitive are.”
While the Monegasque driver is realistic and knows they need to have the car working as expected, he is not willing to compromise on his targets. Leclerc added, “It will depend on that as well, but two or three is not my target. I want to win as many races as possible.”
The #16 driver will start his sixth season with Ferrari in 2024. Despite having spent half a decade at the Maranello outfit, Leclerc has only won five races – a record he wishes to desperately improve.
Besides this, Leclerc is also adamant about winning the championship with the Italian team. So, just race wins are not his parameters of success, as his career goals are much bigger. And certainly, a talent like the Monegasque deserves to get that kind of glory and should pursue it aggressively.
Now, it’s up to Ferrari to provide the 26-year-old with a more competitive car in 2024. This season, however, a championship challenge is rather unlikely for Ferrari. But as Leclerc expects, they can look to win multiple Grands Prix and be a consistent front-runner besides Red Bull.
Is Ferrari again flattering to deceive in 2024 and beyond?
2022 was the big comeback year for Ferrari, or it seemed like it at least for the first quarter of that season. For the first time in four years, they looked like a title contender. However, due to consistent strategic mishaps and poor reliability, the Italian team’s title challenge derailed substantially.
In 2023, Ferrari took a massive step back. They managed to win just one race and registered fewer points and podiums. It was Carlos Sainz’s tactical brilliance in Singapore that got the Prancing Horse on the top step of the podium in 2023.
Besides the final results, overall the SF-23 suffered from several issues, including high tire degradation and poor race pace. To overcome last season’s handicaps, Ferrari decided to do a 95% overhaul on their 2024 car.
The objectives of the SF-24 development were to have better drivability and consistency across all types of tracks. Besides this, a rejig of the suspension geometry and better packaging of the gearbox was their plan to eliminate the high tire degradation issues.
If the Italian team can make this revamp of their 2024 car work, they can be faster on Sundays in a bid to win more races. However, from a championship perspective, the Tifosi should keep their expectations in check for this year.
The Maranello outfit will need several more gains to be a title contender which may be possible only in 2025. Even that is a bit ambitious, given the SF-24 has not run officially at full length in testing or the races.
So, Ferrari needs to build a good foundation of improvements in 2024 as a stepping stone for 2025 and beyond, when seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton also joins the team.
