Since assuming the team principal’s role in 2023, Fred Vasseur has helped Ferrari become a better team overall. However, the Italian outfit has been going through a rough patch since winning the Monaco Grand Prix. Vasseur has recently reassured that they are working hard to get out of this slump and named three tracks where he thinks Ferrari will do really well in the second half of 2024.
Per Formu1a.uno, Vasseur emphasizes the importance of bringing new parts to the car as soon as possible to improve performance. However, he acknowledges that the team is working at the limit of development due to the budget cap and other constraints.
: Ferrari faces a significant development setback as failed upgrades force them to revert to their Imola spec SF-24. Carlos Sainz reveals this has cost the team “two or three months” of progress, impacting their 2024 season performance.#F1 pic.twitter.com/sYk8V2QNDG
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“We failed in England, Spain, and Canada,” said the Frenchman. “We overreacted to some problems and lost too many points… We are pushing like hell. I think Monza, Singapore, and Baku will be more well-suited tracks for us, less so Zandvoort. We will have to try to limit the damage there and we will try to introduce new parts as soon as possible.”
Vasseur also stressed the importance of finding the right balance between performance upgrades and maintaining a reliable car. Ferrari started the season as the closest challenger to Red Bull. However, they failed to add performance to the car as they introduced new upgrades.
The Scuderia even started making some bad strategy calls that cost them several points. As a result, McLaren overtook them for second place in the constructors’ championship. Despite these challenges, Vasseur remains confident that Ferrari can stay competitive throughout the season.
Vasseur explains how the grid has bunched up in 2024
In 2023, Red Bull was miles ahead of all the other teams with Verstappen winning races by huge margins. However, that’s no longer the case this season as all the teams have improved massively. Vasseur highlighted that Ferrari had a similar race in Hungary this season as in 2023, but the gap to the winner was considerably smaller.
“We also see how when someone gets P4-P7 they are not 60 seconds behind Max like in previous years. Ferrari in Hungary did as in 2023, but the gap has reduced from 65 to 20 seconds. Everyone is pushing and improving.”, the Frenchman said.
With McLaren now 21 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, it’ll be interesting to see if the Italian outfit can claw back the advantage with 10 races to go in the season.
