Ferrari are bringing their first major upgrade of the 2024 season to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix next weekend. It’s an important step in their efforts to chase down world champions Red Bull.
The Scuderia have won one race so far, with Carlos Sainz leading home Charles Leclerc for a one-two in Australia. However, this was only after Max Verstappen retired with a brake issue.
In the past couple of races, McLaren seem to have edged ahead. They were Red Bull’s nearest challengers in China, and then Lando Norris won in Miami.
Ted Kravitz says Ferrari were ‘green with envy’ at an ‘astonishing’ package from the British team. Damon Hill has already predicted# that they’ll be the first to catch Red Bull.
But Ferrari have long been eyeing Imola as the debut for a ‘massive’ set of developments. Staff at Maranello are reportedly confident of gaining up to three tenths in qualifying trim, and even more in the races.
Karun Chandhok has heard that Ferrari are ‘rather pleased’ with what they’re seeing in the data. But what matters, of course, is how the new-look SF-24 fares out on track.
Ferrari trial Red Bull ‘shark mouths’ at Fiorano
Ferrari have been testing their new parts over the course of a permitted filming day at their private Fiorano circuit. According to Formu1a.uno, Leclerc and Sainz each logged 100km behind the wheel.
One striking feature of the new car is the ‘shark mouths’ at the entrance to the sidepods. This is one of their ‘important innovations’ and seems to be taken from Pierre Wache’s Red Bull design.
Ferrari have apparently been working on these updates since March ‘with a certain optimism’. They’ve decided to move straight to a Red Bull and McLaren-like concept rather than taking any ‘intermediate’ step.
Their engineers will have collected plenty of data from their allotted running behind closed doors. The success of this project will dictate their objectives for the remainder of the season.
Will Ferrari sign Adrian Newey?
In time, Ferrari will hope that they can be the team setting the aerodynamic benchmark. For now, the best route to the top seems to be to copy Red Bull.
Indeed, Wache and Adrian Newey delivered the most dominant car in F1 history last year. Newey recently admitted that the Bulls are actually ‘struggling’ to find more time, having almost perfected their concept.
Come 2026, there will be sweeping changes to the regulations, and Ferrari will hope to have the legendary 65-year-old designer in their camp. He’ll be free to join a new team from February 2025 when he officially leaves Red Bull.
Insiders at a rival F1 team are expecting him to make the move to Ferrari. Their interest appears to be advanced based on talks between Newey and team principal Fred Vasseur in London last week.
With Newey potentially on board next year, Ferrari will aim to be the class of the field. Perhaps it won’t be long before their competitors are looking to the scarlet red car for inspiration.
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