Like McLaren, the group it was finally defeated by, Ferrari has come a great distance over the previous 18 months. However the Italian squad fell simply wanting conquering the 2024 constructors’ title after maintaining its probabilities alive till the very finish.
Ferrari was the one group to stop Crimson Bull from a clear sweep in 2023, with Carlos Sainz taking a crafty victory in Singapore. However the enormous discrepancy between its one-lap and race day efficiency left the group uncertain of the place it might stack up in 2024 and the way a lot it had solved its tyre overheating points.
It was subsequently a nice shock when Ferrari appeared within the combine from the beginning of 2024, albeit behind Crimson Bull on tempo. However little did the group comprehend it wasn’t Crimson Bull it ought to have been apprehensive about, however McLaren, which began the season off the tempo however made an enormous step from Might’s Miami Grand Prix onwards.
McLaren quickly overhauled Ferrari within the constructors’, and whereas the Scuderia mounted a late fightback, 4 key moments ended up giving it an excessive amount of work to do to catch up.
Canada: Ferrari’s solely double retirement
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, cuts a nook
Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Photographs
Ferrari suffered its first double retirement in two years with a horror weekend in Canada, through which a spate of points derailed its weekend. Each Charles Leclerc and Sainz had been dumped out of Q2 after they could not discover late enhancements on previous smooth tyres, with the pair ranging from eleventh and twelfth.
Ferrari’s weekend went from unhealthy to worse within the race, with Leclerc retiring attributable to an electronical situation on the facility unit whereas Sainz spun out in moist situations, gathering Williams’ Alex Albon. It prompted group boss Fred Vasseur to say Ferrari “had all the problems on the planet” in Montreal.
Spain: Flawed new flooring sends Ferrari down a growth rabbit gap
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photographs
Ferrari was eager to bounce again after Canada on the triple-header of Barcelona, Spielberg and Silverstone, however a brand new flooring launched on the Spanish Grand Prix turned out to introduce bouncing in high-speed corners. That not solely price it efficiency outright but additionally derailed its growth programme because the Maranello squad first needed to discover and perceive the basis trigger earlier than it may provide you with a tweaked design.
The group was compelled into back-to-back testing at Silverstone and into making set-up sacrifices to work its method out of its gap, ceding increasingly floor to a McLaren group that was firing on all cylinders. A saving grace for Ferrari was Lando Norris’ retirement in Austria after his collision with Max Verstappen. A primary podium in 5 races, for Leclerc in Belgium, confirmed a glimpse that Ferrari was maybe down however undoubtedly not out. And later races would show that Ferrari was profitable in curing its illnesses.
Baku: Sainz loses potential podium after late Perez conflict
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Picture by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Photographs
Following an emotional win for Leclerc in entrance of the tifosi at Monza, Azerbaijan additional confirmed that whereas the jury was nonetheless out on whether or not Ferrari had cured its high-downforce issues, the Scuderia was nonetheless the group to beat on circuits the place traction and prime pace are king. Leclerc ceded the win to a faultless Oscar Piastri, whereas behind the pair Sainz seemed on for a restoration onto the rostrum till a late conflict with Sergio Perez, sending each vehicles into the wall. These 15 factors for third would have gone a great distance, with the caveat that behind them Norris moved as much as rating 4 additional factors too.
Singapore: Pre-race favourites on the again foot after qualifying
With Singapore the scene of Ferrari’s solely win in 2023, the traction calls for and absence of quick corners had been seeking to favour the SF-24 in addition to its predecessor. However whereas the Scuderia entered the weekend with shot to win, these hopes all however evaporated after a disappointing qualifying session through which Sainz crashed in Q3 and Leclerc additionally did not set a time, with the pair relegated to the fifth row. On the tight streets of Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit, overtaking was nearly unimaginable however Leclerc and Sainz each delivered a powerful race to restrict the harm and end fifth and seventh respectively, albeit miles behind McLaren’s winner Norris.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photographs
The above setbacks, together with Sainz’s crash within the moist in Brazil, ended up giving Ferrari an excessive amount of work to do to overtake McLaren regardless of the Scuderia’s robust kind within the title run-in. It was additionally held again in Las Vegas by a surprisingly dominant Mercedes group, a race after which it ought to have arguably led the world championship to have a extra reasonable likelihood, with McLaren superior in Qatar.
However setbacks for Norris in Qatar and Piastri in Abu Dhabi made the 2024 title race a lot tighter than anticipated. All it took was Sainz discovering a solution to snatch the race away from Norris, and Piastri not managing to seize some extent in tenth, for Ferrari to triumph in any case.
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That won’t imply a lot to Vasseur, who has usually gone on report saying he hates ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’. However past reeling over what may have been, Ferrari’s season is one which also needs to be remembered for its positives, like its house win in Monza, Leclerc and Sainz’s glorious last season collectively and the group managing to show its kind round after a mid-season growth misstep.
“We’re very proud of what we managed to do that 12 months, with the enhancements we made all year long and the way we reacted to difficulties, however we got here so near profitable the title that we’re disenchanted,” Vasseur mentioned on Sunday night time.
“We had issues in Canada, then with the replace introduced in Spain, accidents in Singapore and Baku, however every time we got here again stronger and that could be a superb signal for the longer term.”
On this article
Filip Cleeren
Formulation 1
Ferrari
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