And now the situation gets complicated. Not a little. The pilots of the Ferrari and, above all, the always positive team principal Frederic Vasseur they no longer feel like smiling. The Sprint Qualifying of the Austrian Grand Prix, eleventh round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship, gave worrying confirmations for the Maranello team.
Against the splendid backdrop of the Red Bull Ring track Pole position in the Sprint Race went to Max Verstappen as usual in 1:04.696 with 93 thousandths on Lando Norris and 301 on Oscar Piastri. Fourth George Russell at 368 thousandths in front of the first Red, that of Carlos Sainzfifth at 440. Sixth Lewis Hamilton at 584, seventh Sergio Perez at 1,322, while Charles Leclerc will be tenth on the grid tomorrowwithout time due to a problem during the exit from the pits which prevented the Monegasque from avoiding the checkered flag.
As mentioned, now in the Prancing Horse team thunderous alarm bells begin to ring. The pre-Imola seems so far away. Remember? The much heralded (and celebrated) update package which would be mounted on the SF-24 and which was supposed to bring the Red car to Max Verstappen’s level. Or very close, at least. Between the Romagna race and today, however, they registered significant and worrying steps backwards. Let’s forget about the victory in Monte Carlo (a one-of-a-kind track that is not a benchmark in terms of performance) and focus on the other races.
F1, Frederic Vasseur is disappointed: “Heavy gap from the leaders and poor performance. We suffer from the SF-24’s bouncing”
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Between Imola, Montreal, Montmelò and today at the Red Bull Ring, the Maranello cars suffered a lot. Much more than expected. Much more than necessary. From the attack on the summit held by “Super Max” to the awareness of now being the fourth force of the deployment. A “dumper” without half measures. With the new package of updates the SF-24 improved very small detailsma discovered several critical issues not of little importance. The andthe flagship of the first part of the championship in terms of wear, have started to overheat again, with thehopping” in the fastest corners which exacerbated the difficulties.
This Friday in the mountains of Styria was everything that Frederic Vasseur and company didn’t wish for. Tomorrow’s Sprint Race is already compromised, so all concentrations will go to Sunday race. Another failure, objectively, would give further confirmation that Ferrari, on a technical level, is officially in the open sea. From the dream of fighting for victories and titles, to the harsh reality of having, at least for now, missed yet another appointment. When there is something to be done change pace, since time immemorial, the Emilian team has never been ready. Will the Austrian Grand Prix reverse this unfortunate scenario?
