Ferrari bet big in 2024: drastic car changes for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc

Ferrari has not achieved its biggest glory in the F1 World Championship since 2007, when Kimi Raikkonen won the title, or since 2008 in the Constructors’ World Championship. A new era of regulations introduced in 2022 has given Italians a new opportunity to take the lead. They started the 2022 season with the best car, but that car had development limitations that Red Bull’s concept did not have. The Milton Keynes cars overtook the Ferraris midway through the course and ran away, but the red cars stalled. For 2023, Ferrari decided to continue betting on the 2022 concept, which he completed. But that wasn’t enough.

In the 2023 season, the red car was a veritable one-lap bullet at many circuits, but its power was waning from the start of the race. Its perfect usage period was very narrow. It was very fast in very specific circumstances. Outside of them, it was diluted. He was affected by significant tire deterioration, especially at race pace. Therefore, it was impossible for him to win against Red Bull. Ferrari improved throughout the year and that helped them aim for a podium. Carlos Sainz’s amazing victory in Singapore It is the only red Bull for the entire year and the only non-Red Bull for all of 2023. And with this reality hitting hard, the people at Maranello focused on building another car for 2024.

They realized that their 2023 car, an evolution of the same 2022 concept, was reaching its limits and required a complete change to the car. This was confirmed by Ferrari’s head of chassis Enrico Caldile in a statement on the Motorsport.com portal, confirming that the 2024 car will be a different concept to “turn the page”.

“The 2023 car was developed based on the 2022 car and sought to improve on some of the limitations of the previous car.”he recalled. “Overall, our goals were achieved as the car on the track performed as developed. The problem was that we quickly realized that the direction we had taken was not the best, and we internally reviewed our aerodynamic development goals. The first step was a spring package, changes to the floor and body, and a further step in Austria. But then we ran into architectural limitations and what we could do with the chassis,” he asserted.

“The limitations were mainly in the chassis, because the main difference between our car and Red Bull’s car was in the design of the radiator inlet and sides, and we had a wider configuration than them.” revealed.

“Once we determined that we needed a different shape to achieve different goals, two facts quickly became limitations: the location of the electronics and chassis design, and the low position of the side impact structure (SIS). In our case, “We would need a new chassis, a new gearbox, basically a completely new car, and it would not be practical to build it in the same year.”he added.

In this sense, Car Deal believes that the concept changes can improve the significant tire degradation that Ferrari has suffered this year.

“Turn the page with the 2024 car”

“I think we know why we perform poorly in races. For us, it has to do with the aerodynamics of the car and the maximum downforce we can get. The issue of tire wear is that the car It’s how it works and how tire wear works.” A car’s performance depends entirely on its aerodynamic behavior. “Unless the suspension design is very wrong, it all comes down to aerodynamics.”he expressed.

“Turn the page with the car of 2024” he said emphatically. “We have maintained the goals we have set for ourselves, but we have realized that achieving them requires different things, so next year’s car will have a different design than the 2022 car. became.”quarrel.

The Italian team will have to look for a concept for a car that is fast in the corners and in races, perhaps something closer to Red Bull’s concept, but at the same time, if it does go ahead with it, the Milton Keynes-born team will have a two-year reprieve. I am aware that it will happen. Ferrari has an advantage in terms of experience with new concepts. However, the example of McLaren changing its car concept mid-season and being able to consistently maintain its position as the second-best car behind Red Bull is indicative of Ferrari’s trajectory and seems to be a good example.

From now on, Ferrari will have to focus above all on expanding the range of work that will allow the car to reach its full potential. “The overall performance is probably not miles away from Red Bull, but it required total commitment from the driver, the right conditions, the right combination of corners…” said Cardil. So in 2023 Ferrari was fast under very specific conditions and we don’t want to repeat that in 2024.

“There are a lot of things that go into making performance difficult to reproduce during a race stint when the tires start to deteriorate and the balance of the car changes. The impression we have is that Red Bull’s platform is more robust than ours.Red Bull shows it’s not impossible (I have a car that performs well in a variety of conditions and courses). It is important to have the right goals and work hard. ”concluded Cardil.