Ferrari's Major Upgrade: What is the team bringing to the 2024 F1 Imola GP?

The Ferrari F1 team will introduce their first major upgrade of the season this weekend at the Imola Grand Prix in front of their home fans. The proximity to the track made it an easy decision for the Italian team to bring substantial changes to their 2024 challenger SF-24.

The Prancing Horses have arguably been the second-fastest team behind Red Bull in the first six races and won a race in Melbourne, courtesy of Carlos Sainz, and have further failed to be on the podium on just one occasion in China.

However, in their bid to keep track of the Austrian team while also maintaining their advantage over McLaren, it became essential for them to upgrade the car.

As per Motorsport.com, the SF-24 will undergo eight major changes ahead of the race in Imola with the team introducing an overbite sidepod inlet arrangement that resembles their rival Red Bull.

The inlet further connects with the bypass duct's inlet, giving it a P-shape that resembles Alpine and Mercedes's concept. There have also been some changes to the sidepods of the car and also made adjustments to the cooling parameters, which are starkly different from their previous version.

Some other key changes are at the rear of the car where they have made some alterations to the tip section and the endplate cutout of the rear wing in their bid to expand the wingspan.

Charles Leclerc comments on the upgrades on the Ferrari SF-24 in Imola

Ferrari driver Chares Leclerc stated that despite the big visual changes to the car, he would check his expectations from the upgrades in Imola.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the Monegasque driver said:

"We did a filming day but that was mostly for filming purposes. So for now, we don't really have real data yet. I know that visually it's a big change, but I would be careful [about] what you see visually to not get carried away and to not have false expectations."

"That wouldn't be good for ourselves. It's a step in the right direction, we believe, [but] it still needs to be confirmed. I'm confident that it is but how much of a step forward it is still remains to be seen."

The Ferrari driver further pointed out that the results from the upgrades might come in a few races, adding:

"I don't think we can judge in one weekend. In very few laps, we'll understand whether the package is working as well as what we expected. But then we've got to see how it works on other tracks with other characteristics. That is really going to be what will tell us what the other part of the season will look like."

It would be fascinating to see if the new upgrades will bring Ferrari another race win this season in front of their roaring Tifosi in the stands this weekend.