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Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur opined that his team could go head-to-head with their rivals during the upcoming F1 season. Speaking during the launch of their new challenger, the Frenchman stated that the Maranello team would be focusing onmanaging their races well in the 2024 season.
Ferrari launched their SF-24 in Maranello on February 13. Launching a car with a brand new platform, the iconic F1 team is aiming at becoming a consistent front-runner at the top of the grid.
While the scarlet squad found it difficult to maintain consistency with their performances in 2023, Vasseur reckoned that the team will make ‘bold choices’ in the 2024 season. Commenting on the launch of their 2024 car and the season ahead, the Ferrari team principal said:
“Presenting a new car to the world for the first time is always a very exciting moment for me and the drivers, even if we are all already thinking about the moment we will go head to head with our rivals on track. This year, we must start off where we left off at the end of last season, when we were consistent front runners, with a view to constantly improving in all areas.”
He added:
“The longest ever Formula 1 season awaits us and Charles, Carlos and I all agree, we must be more cinical and effective in how we manage the races, making bold choices, in order to get the best possible result at every Grand Prix. It’s often said that your fans can give you an extra gear and that will definitely be true in what will be a very closely contested championship and we are proud to know we can count on our “tifosi” from around the world.”
Ferrari reckon they have changed the concept of their car and started fresh with the SF-24
Ferrari Technical Director of Chassis, Enrico Cardile, suggested that the SF-24 was built on a brand new design platform.
Cardile noted that the design of their 2024 F1 challenger was different from its predecessor in many areas. The SF-23 suffered from degradation and inconsistencies with its balance, which dented their performance throughout the 2023 season.
Speaking in a team statement at the launch of their 2024 F1 car, the Ferrari chassis head said:
“With the SF-24 we wanted to create a completely new platform and in fact, every area of the car has been redesigned, even if our starting point was the development direction we adopted last year and which saw us take a leap forward in terms of competitiveness in the final part of the season."
He added:
We have taken on board what the drivers told us and turned those ideas into engineering reality, with the aim of giving them a car that’s easier to drive and therefore easier to get the most out of and push it to its limits. We did not set ourselves any design constraints other than that of delivering a strong and honest racing car, which can reproduce on the race track what we have seen in the wind tunnel.”
Ferrari have undergone a lot of changes after the 2022 season, with a new team principal and various talent and personnel recruited from their rival teams. The mass recruitment campaign and organisational restructuring could start to pay its dividends from the 2024 season. In 2023, the only victory that did not belong to Red Bull was that of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in Singapore. Despite beign beaten by Mercedes by a small margin of three points in the constructors’ championship, the iconic F1 brand seem motivated to return to winning ways.
