2024 F1 season previews: How will Ferrari fare ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival?

To be honest, we are friends after all.

This will be an attractive 12 months or so for the Scuderia.

Just a few weeks ago, articles like this one would have focused on Carlos Sainz Jr.’s contract situation, the team’s recent decision to sign Charles Leclerc to a long-term contract extension, and team principal Frédéric Vasseur’s decision to terminate his contract. I would have focused on whether it could be avoided. A pitfall that hampered many of his predecessors.

All of this disappeared with this simple statement:

Suddenly the world changed.

After all, Ferrari’s 2023 season already offered some interesting talking points. Sainz scored an upset victory in Singapore last year, becoming the only non-Red Bull driver to win a grand prix. Leclerc has shown incredible growth and maturity as a driver, bouncing back from what was described as the “worst start of his career” at the start of the year and overcoming all permutations to lead Ferrari past Mercedes by the end of the season. Aiming for a P2 finish in the constructors’ championship.

Although that effort ultimately fell short, it gave the tifosi hope that Leclerc would take the next step as a driver and team leader. Sainz’s consistency throughout the season, combined with his win in Singapore, started to turn things around for Ferrari. As the 2024 season is about to begin, those in red may believe that perhaps great days lie ahead.

Now they may be caught dreaming about 2025.

2023 Highlights: Singapore Grand Prix

Last year, two teams won the Grand Prix.

Red Bull won all but one game.

And Ferrari.

That victory came in Singapore and it was Sainz who delivered it. Ferrari was in great form all weekend, with both Sainz and Leclerc topping the timesheets at various points throughout the three free practice sessions. Leclerc and Sainz were first and second respectively in FP1, but their positions were reversed in FP2.

Then, in qualifying, the first shock occurred in Q2, when Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were knocked out. This opened the door for teams other than Red Bull to take pole position, with Sainz taking pole and Leclerc settling for third, so it was Ferrari who started behind them in the Grand Prix.

As for the race itself, Sainz maintained his lead after the start and continued to run at the front for most of the race. In the closing stages, he produced a brilliant strategic performance to keep Lando Norris, who was running second behind him, within DRS and the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton (who were running third and fourth). made it more difficult to pass him.

This resulted in one of the best radio swaps of the year.

Not to be outdone, Leclerc also displayed a powerful finish of his own. Russell clipped the wall on the final lap, giving Leclerc a chance to finish fourth, just a few places behind his teammate.

But in a year in which Red Bull won all but one Grand Prix, Ferrari’s victory over Red Bull to take the checkered flag was something of a highlight.

2023 Lowlight: Australian Grand Prix

Is it me, or did this race end up being a downer for multiple teams…?

But I digress.

Australia was certainly a difficult weekend for Ferrari. But it wasn’t like that from the beginning. Sainz and Leclerc both qualified in the top seven, with Sainz starting fifth and Leclerc seventh. However, seventh place was not the best for Leclerc. “Q1 and Q2, obviously I couldn’t participate. I didn’t drive well. I didn’t put everything together well, so that was my fault.” Said Leclerc after qualifying.

However, Leclerc was frustrated for another reason in Q3. Citing a “miscommunication” within the team, Leclerc found himself stuck behind Sainz on the second push lap of Q3 and ultimately finished seventh. “Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened in the second race in Q3, whether it was a miscommunication with Carlos or something else.” Leclerc said.. “But I found myself behind him for the whole first sector, which wasn’t great.

“We plan to discuss this matter in a debriefing session in order to improve this situation.”

The situation did not improve on Sunday.

The day ended early in the Leclerc side garage. He tried to pass Lance Stroll in Turn 3 on the opening lap, but when Stroll had to move to avoid teammate Fernando Alonso, he clipped Leclerc and caused him to fall into the gravel. , retired from the race.

“It was disappointing to finish the race the way it did today, but it happened during the race and I don’t think we could have done anything differently. I hope things go smoothly again.” Leclerc appears in team’s post-race report.

However, Sainz continued to run well and was in fourth place when the race restarted in the final stages. As each car reached Turn 1, Sainz was on the inside of Alonso and made contact with the Aston Martin, causing Alonso to spin. Both Sainz and Alonso were able to continue, but confusion continued behind them and the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon converged, leaving each other out of the points and the race over.

Sainz moved up to third, but then the field was reset and the cars were in the same order as at the previous restart (minus the excluded cars), returning Sainz to fourth. The race ended under the safety car, and although Sainz crossed the line in fourth place, he was given a five-second penalty for contact with Alonso.

This dropped him to 12th place and out of the points.

“Overall it was a good race, but the penalty ruined all the hard work, so I don’t agree with that.” Sainz after the race. “It’s difficult to digest the frustration I feel right now, but I want to focus on the next race and only think about the good things that happened today.”

Ferrari filed a review request to appeal the penalty in the weeks following the race. Alonso also called his decision this way.Too strict”

However, the request was denied.

Outlook for 2024:

Let’s start with the SF-24.

Ferrari’s challenger is certainly impressive, and in many people’s minds it has the most striking livery of the year, but the bigger question is whether it can perform on track. .

Early reviews have been largely positive.

“I really like the look of the car, including the white and yellow parts of the bodywork. But of course what I’m really interested in is how it performs on the track. “The SF-24 should be less sensitive and easier to drive, and for us drivers, that’s what we need to drive well,” Leclerc said after the launch. “We expect this car to make progress in several areas and from the impressions we formed in the simulator, I think we are getting where we want to be. Our goal this season is to always be a front runner. By dedicating this race victory to the fans, we hope to give them a lot of cheer.”

His teammates also have high expectations for the SF-24.

“When I first saw the SF-24, I couldn’t wait to jump in and fire it. Now I’m looking forward to driving it around the track and seeing if it correlates with the feel I got in the simulator. So, that’s the step forward that we all want,” Sainz said. “The goal is to create a car that is easier to drive and therefore has a consistent race pace, as these are fundamental requirements to fight for victory.”

“We as drivers have done our best to provide accurate feedback to the engineers and I am confident that the employees at Maranello will listen to our needs. We want to give our fans something to cheer them up because they have been so supportive even when we weren’t.”

What is clear from the SF-24, the first challenger fully developed under Vasseur, is that feedback from both Sainz and Leclerc was important to the vision.

“With the SF-24, we wanted to create a completely new platform. In fact, even if the development direction we adopted last year was a starting point, virtually every area of ​​the car has been redesigned, which will allow us to We have been able to make significant progress, which will help us be more competitive in the final stages of the season,” said Enrico Caldile, the team’s Chassis Technical Director. “We have taken the input of drivers and turned their ideas into engineering realities, aiming to deliver a car that is easier to drive and therefore easier to push to its limits and get the most out of.

“We had no design constraints other than to deliver a strong, honest race car that could replicate on the race track what we saw in the wind tunnel.”

If the SF-24 lives up to expectations, it’s natural for Ferrari fans to be excited. When you combine a strong challenger with Sainz’s stability and the maturity we’ve seen all the way through, you get a winning combination.

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto, Getty Images

Person under the most pressure to perform in 2024: Frédéric Vasseur

I really went back and forth on this choice.

On the other hand, you might think Leclerc is under the most pressure. After all, he has a new contract and will want to put in a strong performance in the year before Hamilton arrives.

Sainz is against. He has yet to announce his plans for 2025, although many believe he will head to Sauber ahead of what will become Audi’s works team in 2026 (his father already drives for Audi). ), he may head to Sauber until that is announced. He wants to prove himself to his future employer, he thinks.

But Vasseur is the man tasked with keeping this team together for one more season and ensuring they can truly take the lead against Red Bull. Additionally, as previously mentioned, SF-24 is the team’s first challenger under his full guidance and direction.

That’s a lot of pressure and a lot to answer for.