Why Ferrari is now Red Bull’s biggest F1 threat

second has always been seen as a failure for a team of Ferrari size and ambition so being best of the rest behind Red Bull so far in 20124 is no cause for celebration but Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Marinello this is a team that for all its illustrious history and resources matched its record title drought by racking up a 15th season without a world championship in 2023 that matched the dry spell between its 1983 and 1999 Constructor titles and it's almost certain Ferrari will make it 16 years this season that's significant because it proves Ferrari isn't a team in need of quick fixes and easy answers instead it requires sustained consistent improvements if it's to emerge as a Red Bull beater so Ferrari isn't the biggest threat to Red Bull's Supremacy simply because it's second best this year but as a result of How It's emerged as its closest Challenger even if it's not close enough right now that the Ferrari sf24 has comprehensively led the way at the head of the chasing pack behind Red Bull is signal significance given the four circuits visited so far each have different car demands thanks to varying track configurations and surfaces in terms of single out Pace the Ferrari is on average the second fastest car in Bahrain charl cler actually set the quickest individual lap of the weekend in Q2 but couldn't repeat that to take pole position but in three of the four races so far Ferrari has been the leading non- Red Bull in qualifying and while McLaren driver Lando Norris got ahead of the Ferraris in qualifying at Suzuka caros SS and lir finished ahead of him in the race that means Ferrari's 100% record of being the best placed non- Red Bull in races this year crucially this was at a track where it was emphatically beaten by McLaren just 6 months ago color science also won the Australian Grand Prix after the early retirement of Max vapen who he overtook when the Red Bull driver was battling a terminal break problem on the second lap of the race but Ferrari fancied its chances of challenging V stappen in a straight fight that's added up to Ferrari being comfortably second in the Constructor Championship with 120 points that's Ferrari's second highest tally at this stage in the season of the past decade Just Four Points behind where it was at this stage of 2022 at a point where it was posing a genuine Championship threat to Red Bull albeit only temporarily the results prove it Ferrari is on the up and that's thanks to improvements in multiple areas a key objective for Ferrari was eliminating the tendency of its cars since the start of 2022 to work its tires too hard in the race that led to a big offset between its strong qualifying performance and its weaker race Pace that Ferrari has racked up 19 pole positions in the previous two seasons yet won only five races is telling too often in races it was fighting a rear guard action thanks to what Carlos SS called terrible TI management a weakness that's been tackled this year now Red Bull still has a bigger advantage on Race Pace than qualifying Pace but that step is there relative to every team and Ferrari would often fall behind other rivals in the chasing pack in 2022 and 23 thanks to its struggles with race Pace Ferrari still isn't at Red Bull level in terms of time management as L cler has pointed out at high degradation tracks life is still a bit tricky for Ferrari but this is a big step forward it means Ferrari is able to attack more in races rather than looking backwards and improved race Pace means greater strategic flexibility that was showcased at Suzuka where L clerk pulled off a OneStop strategy that required a 25 laap stint on mediums the furthest any driver went on the C2 Tire to team principal Fred verer this was confirmation that Ferrari has got on top of its Tire troubles further Improvement is needed but the season so far is conclusive evidence Ferrari has made a big step in getting on top of its tire trouble one of the main reasons Ferrari has made the aformentioned gains on TI management is that the peakiness of the aerodynamics of the car has been improved dramatically if you have a car that's prone to stalling aerodynamically then you will in those moments take more out of the tires sapping The Confidence from the drivers and making the car particularly unstable when in turbulent air behind other cars this was all down to the sensitivity of the car aerodynamically W in your I.E while turning through corners in a narrow window when all was right it worked well but the drivers never really knew when the rear end might give up as a result for much of last season the car needed a little understeer dialed into it to calm it down which was particularly troubling for the clerk and although progress was made in the second half of last season this was still a problem fundamentally this came down to the limitations of the outwash concept Ferrari opted for at the start of 2022 as opposed to the downwash focus that has become ubiquitous drivers complained endlessly about the unpredictable ility of the car in 2023 but that's dramatically improved this year a quick glance at the side pod treatment of the car showcases the change in Direction and while Ferrari is still someway behind in developing this approach it's on the right track and has been rewarded with greatly improved consistency its performance at Suzuka was evidence of that given the improved performance in the fast Corners as verer says Ferrari has made a huge step forward in the high speed the car is not perfect and the clerk has pointed out there are still improvements to be made in terms of the predictability but what matters is what Ferrari characterized as a brand new car for 2024 has addressed its weaknesses and set it on the right track Ferrari has long been pillared for finding ways to shoot itself in the foot and throw away great results but this has been gradually improving in particular since verer took over as team principal ahead of 2023 that's manifested in its good strategy calls for example look cles one stopper at Suzuka that was the combination of pre-planning the right strategic options and good communication from the driver who pushed to extend the first stint despite being on the medium tires that's an example of what science said about the car improvements giving greater strategic flexibility what more it's been a while since we've seen Ferrari do something completely baffling such as sending its drivers out on the wrong tire and qualifying as happened at interos in 2022 when the clerk was put on intermediates for Q3 when D were the right choice the execution of the pit stops is also consistently good thanks to the DHL fastest pit stop award the turnaround times are logged and Ferrari has four of the 10 quickest pit stops of 202 4 while Red Bull still dominates Ferrari is firmly second best it's still lagging behind but this is further evidence of the long-term progress in this area back in 2020 Ferrari was ranked eighth for pit stops but things have steadily improved this operational Improvement extends far beyond race strategy in pit stops on forer's watch the decision- making and Clarity of leadership at Ferrari has taken a step forward he's been able to keep the politics that are always bubbling away at Ferrari at Bay and give clear direction as L cler says this has impacted all areas of the team and crucially allowed greater focus on the key areas for improvement that means development objectives have been set more precisely the team has avoided overreacting to both success and failure and communication and collaboration has improved and at Ferrari getting that side of things under control has always been the key to success Ferrari is now firmly second best in F1 but it still has a long way to go to be a regular threat to Red Bull car development will therefore be key however there are signs that it can aspire to take on and beat Red Bull in a straight fight while science's Australia Victory came after VAP and retired early there was the possibility that the car might have had the pace at least to fight with Red Bull in the race unfortunately there's no way to know if that really would be the case and while the Red Bull rb2 is still a superior car science believes that there are certain tracks where Ferrari can be in the mix citing ultral low downforce Monza and the Singapore and Miami Street tracks and science is confident that while Red Bull has an advantage for now Ferrari can become more of a threat as the season progresses so far the update dates Ferrari has brought have been minor winglets were added to the rear wing pylon in Australia and a reprofiled aerodynamic fairing for the rear suspension top Wishbone leg appeared in Japan there have also been some circuit specific parts to tune the car for the AA demands of tracks but the first big upgrade is expected at IMA next month and should include a new floor unlike Mercedes Ferrari hasn't given up hope of emerging as a championship threat this year at least not publicly but realistically this year is all about making faster progress than Red Bull so it has the possib ility of being a genuine Challenger for race wins next year and therefore can fight for the title when Lewis Hamilton arrives to join L cler the sir stresses the merits of pushing for constant Improvement in all areas and there is plenty of evidence that this is delivering results there's still a long way to go before Ferrari can be considered a serious threat to Red Bull but recent progress proves that the trajectory is right to do so and that's exactly what is needed to make a team that has consistently underachieved in the past 15 years into one that really can reemerge as a championship winner

Channel: THE RACE

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Keywords: f1, formula 1, formula one, F1 news, F1 latest, F1 updates, F1 explained, The Race, the-race.com, grand prix, f1 2024, ferrari

Id: CNuk1wTVr90

Length: 8min 44sec (524 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2024