After what was a thoroughly underwhelming 2023 season, where they were out of title contention throughout, Ferrari have now vowed to come back fighting in 2024. Revelations from the team confirm that they will be taking note of the Red Bull philosophy more closely to build their own 2024 challenger.
According to Formu1a.uno (as extracted on X), the 2024 Ferrari car is going to be a 95% departure from the SF-23 while also being an evolutionary concept. However, the report suggests that,
“In Maranello [they] will follow our own path which goes more towards the Red Bull concepts than those introduced by McLaren and Aston Martin with their bellies characterized by a deep excavation.”
Last year, the team struggled for out-and-out mechanical grip. Problems with its tire usage also meant that in race trim, the car was not able to conserve its tires, leaving both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in no man’s land despite a decent qualifying result.
This year, the team is looking to work on relieving the constraints in terms of mechanical grip that will be directly interwoven to an overhauled chassis concept. A lot of it is similar to Red Bull’s philosophy, which made them so successful in 2022 and 2023. That being said, the 2024 car is not going to be a revolutionary step away from the core design philosophy that the team has adopted in the past.
Despite torrid 2023 season, Ferrari can take many positives for 2024 title challenge
On paper, 2022 seemed like a better year for Ferrari than 2023. However, in terms of pure pace, performance and developmental progress, the iconic Italian team would be mighty pleased with their efforts towards the SF-23.
Despite being outpaced comprehensively by Red Bull when the season began, the team worked hard on developing the car and clawed by an immense amount of performance to the Bulls. What’s more, they are the only team to beat Red Bull as they won the 2023 Singapore GP, whilst the Bulls wrapped up the other 21 Grands Prix.
In terms of their championship performance, they faced heartbreak at the season finale in Abu Dhabi as they closely lost out to P2 in the standings at the hands of Mercedes. Nonetheless, the team have given themselves a strong foundation to build upon for 2024, and seem like one of the biggest threats to Red Bull’s throne, this year.
The team also have eyes on poaching some really key and instrumental names from their rivals at Mercedes and Red Bull for 2024 and beyond. Naturally, the optimism in the Ferrari camp is at an all time high.
