After much anticipation, Ferrari will be bringing its first major upgrade package of the 2024 season in Imola. However, before putting the upgraded SF-24 on track at their first home race of the season, the Italian team is testing it out at their private track in Fiorano. Now, these upgrades can bring Ferrari closer to Red Bull on ultimate performance. From what has been reported so far about this package by the Italian outfit, the Austrian team may worry a bit.
According to Formu1a.uno, these upgrades will involve changes such as “bottom [floor], inverted inlets, new body work and modified bellies and minor changes on the front wing, rear wing and in the various aerodynamic appendages around the cockpit”.
Fred Vasseur is confident Ferrari’s incoming upgrades for Imola will enable the team to take the fight to Red Bull every weekend
Will the Scuderia take a first #F1 home victory in front of the Tifosi since Italy 2019? pic.twitter.com/7owKKHsF6g
— Autosport (@autosport) May 8, 2024
Among these, the floor is a complete redesign with adaptive changes to the car bodywork. However, the key change is the entry of the radiator openings. Ferrari have adopted the development trend by Red Bull to reverse the radiator openings.
These ‘shark-type’ inlets appeared first on the RB20 during the Bahrain pre-season testing earlier this year. If the Maranello team can emulate and make it work well, that could be a sign of worry for Red Bull.
Ferrari were initially going to adopt the late-2023 version of the RB19 in its first major 2024 upgrade. However, their technical director, Enrico Cardile, and head of vehicle concept, Diego Tondi, studied the RB20 concept well to opt for going for the “most extreme solution”.
Thus, it makes sense why there is so much optimism coming out of Ferrari about their Imola GP upgrades. Some reports suggest that these upgrades on the SF-24 could yield up to two or three-tenths of gains. If so, Red Bull will have to watch their mirrors for Ferrari and also McLaren, who got their latest upgrade in Miami.
Can Ferrari and McLaren fight Red Bull consistently moving forward?
Ever since the Australian GP win, Ferrari’s chances of fighting Red Bull for wins have been looking good. Despite a couple of underwhelming results in China and Miami relative to their lofty 2024 standards, the Italian team has been consistently the second-best team.
However, those aforementioned underwhelming results have come courtesy of McLaren taking a step forward. The Woking outfit brought its first major upgrade in Miami and it worked wonders for them.
Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri looked mighty competitive, with the former breaking his duck of race wins by winning the Miami GP. This victory came on sheer merit as Norris matched and beat Max Verstappen on pace in the second stint of the race.
Verstappen, too, accepted that Red Bull did not have any answer to the upgraded MCL38’s speed. So, McLaren are certainly right there besides Ferrari, in terms of challenging the Milton Keynes outfit, if the opportunity presents itself.
With the Imola GP coming up, what would be interesting to watch is if both these teams hassle Red Bull consistently in a much more equal fight. Given the way the Austrian team has dominated since 2022, a head-to-head equal fight for the win has been quite rare.
If McLaren and Ferrari can bring such a fight against Red Bull, the rest of the 2024 season could prove to be quite interesting for the fans.
