Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will have the opportunity to drive for 200km (100km each) on the filming day which precedes the first home GP of the season and in which there will be an important package of developments on the SF-24. The World Cup is all live on Sky and streaming on NOW
THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR
Next weekend will be a crucial event for the 2024 Formula 1 world championship, especially for the Ferrari. For the championship it will be a race that will have to confirm the important step forward made by the McLaren with the latest updates, so as to keep the fight with Red Bull open as much as possible and above all Max Verstappen; for the team of Milton Keynes however, other updates are on the way and it will be a test to understand how close the competition has really come. Above all it will be a decisive appointment for the future of Ferrari, which up to now has been the second force, but is now overtaken by the Woking team – at least they judge the performance of You love me – but which has always indicated Imola as the stage for the first package of developments which will substantially modify the SF-24.
Ferrari, 200 km to Fiorano with the SF-24 before Imola
One of the most difficult things to achieve – and maintain – with these ground effect cars is the correlation between the virtual world (wind tunnel, CFD and simulator) and the real one (the track). Even today, Mercedes often stumbles in the dark due to this data disparity. Furthermore, some high-profile technicians – such as Andrea Stella di McLaren and Ayao Komatsu’s Haas – have revealed how different results from the wind tunnel are often found on the track, sometimes negative but sometimes also positive, as happened with the VF-24. In Woking they were expecting an important step forward with the MCL38 updated, but confirmation of the track was needed to breathe a sigh of relief. Only after the first findings was the figure of 4 tenths of progression confirmed, thus becoming reality with a good basic setup also found. And this is also happening within the walls of Maranello, where there is a lot of anticipation for the evolution of SF-24 which has now been studied and programmed for some time in the ‘virtual world’.
Production of parts has begun but there was never any real intention to bring forward the introduction of these components to Miami. In Imola you will also be able to enjoy a return to normality, after China and Miami hosted the first two Sprint Races of the season. Three free practice sessions to study and verify that the new pieces behave as expected, but not only! It is nothing new that when large development packages are introduced, Ferrari will, if possible, hold a filming day at its home track in advance. It had already happened in 2023 with the SF-23 when, before Austria, the new front wing and the new bottom were tested in Fiorano. It was an explicit request from the technical director who wanted to confirm the simulation data on the track. Even this year Frederic Vasseru and Enrico Cardile they have again scheduled a test day for bring the SF-24 to the track in its 2.0 version. Between Thursday and Friday therefore in Fiorano, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will have the opportunity to drive the Cavallino single-seater which has done well up to this point for 200km – 100km each. but which has reached its ‘peak’ performance and now needs to be updated, after a long period of learning and work by the technicians who have extracted its potential. The two starting drivers will therefore be able to gather the first indications on the news that will have to say what the future will be, at least for this season, of Ferrari and whether a fight with Red Bull (and McLaren) is possible in 2024.
