Ferrari send title message to Red Bull with launch of 2024 F1 car
Ferrari have vowed to become more consistent in their bid to challenge Max Verstappen for the Formula One world title in 2024.
On Tuesday, the Italian marque unveiled the SF-24, their contender for the new season which will be driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz - before the Spaniard is replaced by Lewis Hamilton at the end of the year.
The SF-24 is claimed to be a total overhaul of the characteristics of last year’s car as Ferrari aim to improve reliability and make their car easier to drive.
However, backfiring strategy calls and unforced errors have also held the Scuderia back in recent years and team principal Fred Vasseur has stated his desire to cut out those mistakes.
He said at the launch: "The longest ever F1 season awaits us and Charles, Carlos and I all agree, we must be more clinical and effective in how we manage the races, making bold choices, in order to get the best possible result at every Grand Prix.”
Sainz was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023 as Ferrari narrowly missed out on second place in the Constructors’ Championship to Mercedes.
An inconsistent package meant they laboured in certain conditions while also performing far better in qualifying than on race day.
Despite being confident that those issues were fixed, Leclerc was careful not to overstate Ferrari’s ambitions for 2024 with Red Bull expected to dominate again.
The Monegasque driver said of the new car and his hopes for the season: “The SF-24 ought to be less sensitive and easier to drive and for us drivers that’s what you need in order to do well.
2024
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2023#F1 @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/qioEKIHBHL— Formula 1 (@F1) February 13, 2024
“I expect the car to be a step forward in several areas and from the impression I formed in the simulator I think we’re where we want to be. This season the aim is to be front runners all the time and I want to give our fans plenty to cheer about, by dedicating race wins to them.”
He added: “I think the main area we had to work on was the sensitivity to the change of conditions. We had a very peaky car last year, where it was very strong whenever we had all the perfect conditions but whenever one of these factors – whether it’s temperature, wind speed, force or direction – it would have a huge impact on our car.
“We wanted to change it for this car for it to make it better and easier to drive as it was very difficult whenever it was windy conditions. This is something that I would like to see change for this year.”