Ferrari: got a tenth from Red Bull in six months

The expected Suzuka controversy at the start of the season is fitting direct comparison between 2023 and 2024 seats one and – with rare exceptions – only the development of winter divides the two events. In fact, the Japanese weekend took place at the end of the last championship when we are at the beginning of a long season, in which the first development packages have already arrived following the work done during the winter break. Therefore, compared to Bahrain, Jeddah and the Australian GP, ​​there is no development year between the two dates, but only the part where development was complete for most teams. The value of Red Bull has not changed, remaining in front of everyone, but above all Ferrari has once again highlighted the high level of quality produced by the SF-24. Compared to a few months ago, it halved the gap to the Milton Keynes team and managed to beat McLaren – also on a strategic level – from paying a gap of 20 seconds to being ahead with both cars. Suzuka made several important comments that confirm all the features highlighted so far of the SF-24: high load, constant platform and excellent tire management on Sunday, which needs to be repaired on Saturday.

The data does not lie and now Ferrari also believes in the potential of the SF-24: the one-stop strategy and the characteristics of Leclerc allowed the return to Suzuka.

Last year, one of the most frequent topics in conversation with those who belonged to the world of Ferrari was tire damage and problems related to this. This year the music has definitely changed. Suzuka but also Bahrain were certainly the most difficult tests of this start of the world championship, given that it was necessary to control the wear of the tires placed under great stress at all speed angles, traction zones and temperatures that varied during the course. of the weekend going from 26 ° on Friday to readings above 40 ° for the race. Despite all these criteria, Ferrari has never shown signs of weakness in terms of tire wear, especially in competitions. The SF-23 at the end of the season had already allowed a big step forward, but nothing compared to what was achieved by the SF-24. The figures from the Suzuka race tell us that the Ferrari was the best car in tire management, especially with the central compound.

In fact, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were able to manage the C2 better than the RB20. If Max Verstappen was able to control the speed, in theory wearing less tires, Sergio Perez had to push to take the final P2. The two standard-bearers of the Red team even more to beat Norris, but also to keep away Mercedes and Aston Martin. The Monegasque in particular had an impressive first placewith the times getting better and better especially after the first hole of the opponents, showing how gentle he and his Ferrari were on the tyres. During the race, Ferrari used a one-stop strategy, plan C, pushed by the Monegasque himself, while the engineers had seen his speed improve and were convinced by this decision.

So Leclerc extended his time on Medium more than anyone else, allowing himself to stop only once at Suzuka, which – after some thought before the start of the weekend in anticipation of cold temperatures – everyone refused because of the great damage. Strangely, only Kevin Magnussen has tried such a strategy, but not with equal success. However, the track was not particularly friendly to Haas, who was still very close to the score, and it also proved an important step in tire management, where the new mechanics from Maranello also gave a big hand to the American team. Ferrari showed the best damage value in the central compound while with Hard tires, Red Bull was better, however, the value is very conditioned by Leclerc’s long and managed stint, while Sainz, being short, allowed him to push without having to manage, accepting serious damage.

Ferrari narrows the gap from Red Bull: 6 tenths was achieved in just 6 months, one tenth per month, thanks to the heavy load and stable platform.

A lot of data makes the Suzuka race more positive than a P3-P4 finish can say. The gap from the RB20 still exists and at Suzuka, according to the data, it stood at around 3 and a half tenths., a figure corresponding to the average of the first races (3-4 tenths). An important gap, but not a big one, also considering the recovery made in a few months. Verstappen permitting, as these lead gaps should always be taken with a grain of salt given that, even for the teams themselves, it is very difficult to understand how much the Dutchman controls the race from a certain point onwards. In Japan, compared to the single seat 2023, the SF-24 improved by 1.7 seconds, despite the 1.1 seconds achieved by the RB20. In just a few months, Ferrari managed to gain a tenth of a second from the Milton Keynes car, confirming the important and excellent work done in Maranello. Moreover, taking the data from the first race, Ferrari had already achieved the 4th tenth in Bahrain – with the race set by the limited configuration of the SF-24 and the problem of the corner of the wheel for Leclerc – and the second half in Jeddah. This value is even better at Suzuka as the characteristics of the SF-24 adapt better to the Japanese track than the SF-23, which had an Achilles heel at medium speed, which has now become a strong point.

Further proof came at Suzuka that, in terms of the power deficit achieved, the SF-24 project is like night and day compared to the troubled previous car. The most loading and above all the most stable aerodynamic platform, which allowed us to do a great level of quality when setting the side and in terms of configuration optimization. At Suzuka, Ferrari proved to be very competitive at medium speed, regaining the huge gap it had with Red Bull at top speed. Maranello will need to work on the implementation of the qualifying times to increase the ability of the single seater, since by guaranteeing the start of the first or second row they will be able to implement what Vasseur has said several times now, that is, increase the pressure on Red Bull, using, if necessarily, several mistakes of the Anglo-Austrian team. Like what happened in Australia. It is awaiting major developments, which could bring the performance of the SF-24 closer to that of the RB20.