The next round of the world championship F1 is of fundamental importance for the Ferrari. There Maranello team in fact, after the updates brought to Imola and who caused the detachment from Red Bullat least on that track, even if it was only about seven seconds, he had to deal with one McLaren in great shape and also able to win on Santernoa feat that failed by a handful of tenths.
For the SF-24 there are still some problems to solveeven in his version EVO. One above all concerns the qualifying lap, a great strong point of Charles Leclercwho however this year has not yet managed to make the difference as he has accustomed us to in the past, including last year and with a single-seater certainly, overall, not up to the level of the one he is driving this season.
TO Monk practically everything is played out on Saturday, even if this does not grant the certainty of victory the following day, and Ferrari certainly knows something about it given the havoc committed in 2022, when the Monegasque was effectively robbed of success by his own wall. But that, fortunately, was another management, of which practically nothing remains.
F1, Ferrari’s victory in Monaco has been missing since 2017
The Monaco GP Of F1 it is an icon of the motorsportsand the Ferrari wants to return to success after a seven-year fast, when Sebastian Vettel In the 2017 won in front of Kimi Raikkonen for a beautiful all-red double. TO Maranello we therefore work to keep up with McLaren And Verstappen on the flying lap: la MCL38 it had more, it was the best car of the weekendwhile the RB20 had several difficulties and just the pure talent of Max Verstappen allowed the Dutch and the team to conquer pole and victory.
For his part Leclerc has shown that he can conquer the pole start twice in the streets of his home, namely in 2021, when the Ferrari had a car that was anything but competitive, and in 2022. In both cases, and this is incredible, Charles he never managed to win, and even on one occasion he didn’t even start, having crashed at Swimming pools on Saturdays with his SF21after the pole achieved, then returned to the track on Sunday with the damaged car.
We’ve already talked about 2022, last year was really transitional, so the GP this week will be the opportunity for the red but also for Leclerc himself to aim for victory again in Principality. Obviously it won’t be easy, because Norris, Plates And Verstappen they are tough opponents, and beware of underestimating some last minute outsiders like Lewis Hamiltoncertainly not for its undisputed strength, but for its rather questionable strength Mercedes.
F1, Ferrari: Vasseur points the way to success in Monaco
There Ferrari however, since he has been in charge Frederic Vasseur, has taken a clear direction. Especially this season, the manager Frenchman doesn’t want to set too many limits, also because he now has a truly competitive single-seater at his disposal, not like in 2023. The focus always remains on maximizing the package available, but also on trying to win, and saying this explicitly probably gives that extra strength needed to achieve a great result.
These are the words of the Frenchman before weekend to Monk: “One week before our home race, a Imolanext weekend it’s the turn of Charlesand as a team we want to help him close the open account he has with the track Mountain Carlo. Carlosfor his part, loves the track very much Principality on which he achieved his first podium at the wheel of one Ferraritherefore the motivations for both are very high.”
“As is known that of Monk it is a circuit on which overtaking with the current generation of single-seaters is very difficult. Qualifying will be of fundamental importance: we will have to try to take that step that we have still lacked this season to start in front of everyone. In the simulator as well as in the meetings with the engineers we prepared in detail and we hope to be protagonists.”
Never play defense therefore, at least in the approach to weekend. Then it is clear how the free trials can direct you one way or the other, but a Mountain Carlo the most important thing is to do laps after laps, gain confidence and understand how far the limit is before going for the wall. There Ferrari will leave nothing to chance in the Principality, the challenge to Red Bull And McLaren is launched.
Author: Andrea Bovone
Images: Scuderia Ferrari
