After the Australian GP, many including McLaren’s Lando Norris expected Ferrari to be putting Red Bull under pressure earlier today at the 2024 Japanese GP. However, in terms of race pace, the Scuderia did not bring their Australian form to the Suzuka International Circuit. Discussing his thoughts about the race, Norris expressed his surprise at how Ferrari did not manage to keep up with the Bulls.
The 24-year-old was quoted by Motorsport Italia (as reported on X (formerly Twitter)) as saying, “I didn’t see incredible race pace from Ferrari. It didn’t seem as good as Red Bull thought or as they said yesterday. I think in the end we are where we expected to be, which is behind Ferrari. That’s where we’ve been throughout [the] year.”
Despite their relative lack of pace to Red Bull today, the Maranello-based team did outperform their Woking counterparts. Carlos Sainz stood on the podium once again for his team, as Charles Leclerc made it a Ferrari 3-4. Norris on the other hand finished fifth, with Oscar Piastri securing four points for McLaren with an eighth-placed finish.
The #4 driver’s observations about the pace of the SF-24 are accurate. While Max Verstappen won the race and took the fastest lap, the Ferrari duo of Sainz and Leclerc finished a staggering 20+ seconds behind the three-time world champion.
Despite Japanese GP disappointment, Ferrari look to close the gap to Red Bull in 2024
It was a tough outing for the Ferrari boys at the Suzuka International Circuit earlier today. The team did have a solid race and bagged crucial points for the world championship, but their gap to Red Bull is still a persistent problem for them to solve.
After the race, Charles Leclerc was quoted by GrandPrix.com as citing their inability to “put the tires in the right window on the out laps in qualifying” as their main disadvantage. While in terms of race pace, team boss Fred Vasseur admitted there was still “room for improvement” against the Bulls.
That being said, the Scuderia are looking forward to the first of their upgrade packages coming at the Emilia Romagna GP being held at the iconic Imola circuit. Sainz even dubbed those upgrades as a realistic chance for the team to cut their gap to Red Bull once and for all.
Naturally, Ferrari is expecting to mount the pressure on Red Bull in the upcoming races – starting with the Chinese GP due to be held on the 21st of April.
