The developmental battle in the 2024 season has been closer than ever with Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes making giant steps forward. Meanwhile, Red Bull has grappled with its troubled RB20 concept. While Red Bull are looking to bounce back at the US GP with a major upgrade, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur believes the Austin weekend will see final steps forward from everyone.
Formu1a.uno reported Vasseur‘s statement regarding Ferrari’s US GP upgrades. The Frenchman stated, “We are focused on the 2025 car but the cars will be an evolution of these, so development will not stop.”
| Ferrari will bring upgrades to Austin and are working on the 2025 Machine
Fred Vasseur: “We, like many others, will still bring new parts to Austin. We are already working on the 2025 machine, but we will do our best to bring something to the SF-24” pic.twitter.com/A0DYq7fnIs
— Ferrari Focus (@Scuderiascoop) September 23, 2024
The Italian team brought a major package at the Italian GP that brought them back into podium contention. Adding to that, their US GP upgrades seem to include a new front wing that may take inspiration from McLaren’s ‘flexi’ front wing. Even Red Bull are hinting at bringing a similar front wing and their Austin package could also involve the same.
With the constructors’ championship battle heating up, Vasseur and Co. know that the developmental battle could take its final twist at the Circuit of the Americas — a traditional track that often enables teams to benchmark their performance.
Moreover, as the Ferrari team boss said, these upgrades could also decide all teams’ trajectory for the 2025 season as well. With the regulations remaining the same, all teams would want to figure out their development plans for next season as well and set a foundation during these final few races in 2024.
Why the US GP upgrades set the tone for 2025
The 2025 season will be the final year of the current ground-effect regulations. That is why, all teams could hit the developmental limits with the current generation of cars. Moreover, the teams at the front [McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes] may be the only ones to fight for the championship with no big shake-up of the grid happening.
Whenever a regulations’ cycle reaches its final year, teams often have to focus a lot more on the new regulations’ car as well. While 2025 will see intensive in-season development, most teams will also keep an eye on making their 2026 cars better.
Thus, the upcoming three-week break before the US GP could prove critical for teams like McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes to set themselves up for a promising 2025 season. It will give them headroom to focus on the 2026 regulations while also being in contention for wins and perhaps the championship next year.
