2024 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[Xyz22]

Next race is going to be quite interesting. First proper comparison with the SF 23 final spec.

I'm expecting RB to dominate, though.

Yeah, I think it will be tight between us and McLaren again for the 3rd step on the podium.

We'll see.

Rewatching the race, Leclerc managed the last stint extremely well. He had the oldest tyre of everyone and kept Norris behind, Sainz in check and actually gained on Piastri.

[Sphere3758]

I like Ferrari's strategy of firing Sainz, who is their better driver, in favor of Leclerc who is inferior and probably costs more.
I dream of one day being able to understand this team's magnificent decisions.

There is zero objective evidence that Sainz is a superior driver to Leclerc, or that Leclerc is inferior. It’s purely a subjective opinion of yours that shouldn’t be mistaken as fact. You’re entitled to an opinion but your opinion is not entitled to be true.

One race weekend does not define a driver. By essentially any empirical measure, Leclerc has been the superior driver over the past 2-3+ seasons, based on qualifying, races, and net points (especially when adjusting for mechanicals, strategy decisions, etc).

And that’s to take absolutely nothing from Sainz, who is a tremendous driver in his own right.

You're right.

From all of Ferrari's decisions, picking Leclerc over Sainz is perhaps the least questionable of them all.
It's just that, even though Leclerc scored more points, Sainz makes his limitations appear more obvious: He is far more talented than Carlos, but often unable to capitalize on that.
To me the most worryng of all are his poor performances seemingly from lack of mental resilience, like constantly crashing the car on his own, often in situations of high pressure, which really makes me wonder if he is able to fight for a championship, unless given a far superior car than everyone else.

As for the decision to hire Hamilton in the first place, I can't understand that as well.
It's not like it's the drivers costing Ferrari their performances, and Hamilton may create more issues than he solves, like increased wages, as well as the fact that, as demonstrated by Hamilton vs Alonso, Hamilton vs Rosberg and Leclerc vs Vettel, both drivers aren't okay with being number 2. And I'm pretty sure that, by the time the honeymoon is over and Hamilton realizes Ferrari won't be able to bring him another title, the situation can only get worse.

Regarding your first point, that is just not true. He has just had the luck of the draw in a few crucial situations. Like today, where he outqualified Charles for the first time in 8 races and Redbull decide to have an off day. But on the contrary, Charles would have beaten Max on pure pace in Vegas but the universe conspired a safety car for him at the worse possible time. I wouldnt even dignify the rest of that with an answer, go check who amongst the two crashed the car last.


Regarding Lewis, the decision is a lot more nuanced and a way for Ferrari to attract more British engineers to move to the team. They want to create a powerhouse team to attract engineering talent. Whether you believe it or not, the teams certainly rate Lewis a lot higher than Carlos and they have the data to back it. Engineers would find the prospect of designing a car for Lewis Hamilton a lot more exciting than for Carlos Sainz, that is the truth

[FDD]

I think LEC requested the "5 clicks"

Maybe, I do not know, however they probably missed on that and the car lost its balance.

Plenty of time to fix it back for the race since front wing clicks are one of the accepted changes in parc ferme

Absolutely, but if that did not solve the problems and it did not, there is nothing to do after Q to find the feeling that CL lost, except to turn back that five clicks or something in between.
Something happened, maybe changed tire pressure had impact and they did not find the proper set-up for CL only, obviously CS made big improvement.
However excellent race by Ferrari in general, huge improvement of the team in respect to last year.
Waiting for Suzuka "test", hoping that they are reading the car better and learn more regarding the car set-up which is crucial before any major upgrades.

[Autobahn303]

Next race is going to be quite interesting. First proper comparison with the SF 23 final spec.

I'm expecting RB to dominate, though.

Yeah, I think it will be tight between us and McLaren again for the 3rd step on the podium.

We'll see.

Rewatching the race, Leclerc managed the last stint extremely well. He had the oldest tyre of everyone and kept Norris behind, Sainz in check and actually gained on Piastri.

And pulled out the fastest lap

[SoulPancake13]

Next race is going to be quite interesting. First proper comparison with the SF 23 final spec.

I'm expecting RB to dominate, though.

Yeah, I think it will be tight between us and McLaren again for the 3rd step on the podium.

We'll see.

Rewatching the race, Leclerc managed the last stint extremely well. He had the oldest tyre of everyone and kept Norris behind, Sainz in check and actually gained on Piastri.

I still stand by the fact that Charles didn't have a bad race here, he had a bad qualy - I think Charles lost a win this weekend with whatever happened from FP2 to FP3. Final stint was great, and even with compromised 1st and 2nd stints, he wasn't miles off Sainz.

[franbatista123]

Anyone has any source on some rumours of Ferrari fast tracking the Imola upgrades to Suzuka? Have read it on a few places but no trustworthy sources.

[Xyz22]

Anyone has any source on some rumours of Ferrari fast tracking the Imola upgrades to Suzuka? Have read it on a few places but no trustworthy sources.

The source is Formu1a.uno, and they are fast tracking a small part of the upgrade planned for Imola.

[dialtone]

Maybe, I do not know, however they probably missed on that and the car lost its balance.

Plenty of time to fix it back for the race since front wing clicks are one of the accepted changes in parc ferme

Absolutely, but if that did not solve the problems and it did not, there is nothing to do after Q to find the feeling that CL lost, except to turn back that five clicks or something in between.
Something happened, maybe changed tire pressure had impact and they did not find the proper set-up for CL only, obviously CS made big improvement.
However excellent race by Ferrari in general, huge improvement of the team in respect to last year.
Waiting for Suzuka "test", hoping that they are reading the car better and learn more regarding the car set-up which is crucial before any major upgrades.

LEC was on the same pace as SAI in the race.

Tire warmup cycle was the uncontested king for Ferrari, if either driver pushed right away they would have burned through tires faster. Whatever Ferrari had in qualifying, it wasn’t as bad in the race, LEC 3rd stint was great and the speed with which he dispensed Gasly and the Haas at the start of the 2nd was also great.

Only real issue LEC had was a bad decision in the first stint to lounge inside T9 on Lando that made no sense while he would have passed afrer T10 with DRS, lost enough to force the early pit otherwise both Ferraris would have had a more comfortable race.

[Xyz22]

Plenty of time to fix it back for the race since front wing clicks are one of the accepted changes in parc ferme

Absolutely, but if that did not solve the problems and it did not, there is nothing to do after Q to find the feeling that CL lost, except to turn back that five clicks or something in between.
Something happened, maybe changed tire pressure had impact and they did not find the proper set-up for CL only, obviously CS made big improvement.
However excellent race by Ferrari in general, huge improvement of the team in respect to last year.
Waiting for Suzuka "test", hoping that they are reading the car better and learn more regarding the car set-up which is crucial before any major upgrades.

LEC was on the same pace as SAI in the race.

Tire warmup cycle was the uncontested king for Ferrari, if either driver pushed right away they would have burned through tires faster. Whatever Ferrari had in qualifying, it wasn’t as bad in the race, LEC 3rd stint was great and the speed with which he dispensed Gasly and the Haas at the start of the 2nd was also great.

Only real issue LEC had was a bad decision in the first stint to lounge inside T9 on Lando that made no sense while he would have passed afrer T10 with DRS, lost enough to force the early pit otherwise both Ferraris would have had a more comfortable race.

Yeah, that was stupid. Having said that, McL was super quick in the double fast corner so not easy to overtake.
Dirty air was awful in the last sector.

[DiogoBrand]

There is zero objective evidence that Sainz is a superior driver to Leclerc, or that Leclerc is inferior. It’s purely a subjective opinion of yours that shouldn’t be mistaken as fact. You’re entitled to an opinion but your opinion is not entitled to be true.

One race weekend does not define a driver. By essentially any empirical measure, Leclerc has been the superior driver over the past 2-3+ seasons, based on qualifying, races, and net points (especially when adjusting for mechanicals, strategy decisions, etc).

And that’s to take absolutely nothing from Sainz, who is a tremendous driver in his own right.

You're right.

From all of Ferrari's decisions, picking Leclerc over Sainz is perhaps the least questionable of them all.
It's just that, even though Leclerc scored more points, Sainz makes his limitations appear more obvious: He is far more talented than Carlos, but often unable to capitalize on that.
To me the most worryng of all are his poor performances seemingly from lack of mental resilience, like constantly crashing the car on his own, often in situations of high pressure, which really makes me wonder if he is able to fight for a championship, unless given a far superior car than everyone else.

As for the decision to hire Hamilton in the first place, I can't understand that as well.
It's not like it's the drivers costing Ferrari their performances, and Hamilton may create more issues than he solves, like increased wages, as well as the fact that, as demonstrated by Hamilton vs Alonso, Hamilton vs Rosberg and Leclerc vs Vettel, both drivers aren't okay with being number 2. And I'm pretty sure that, by the time the honeymoon is over and Hamilton realizes Ferrari won't be able to bring him another title, the situation can only get worse.

Regarding your first point, that is just not true. He has just had the luck of the draw in a few crucial situations. Like today, where he outqualified Charles for the first time in 8 races and Redbull decide to have an off day. But on the contrary, Charles would have beaten Max on pure pace in Vegas but the universe conspired a safety car for him at the worse possible time. I wouldnt even dignify the rest of that with an answer, go check who amongst the two crashed the car last.


Regarding Lewis, the decision is a lot more nuanced and a way for Ferrari to attract more British engineers to move to the team. They want to create a powerhouse team to attract engineering talent. Whether you believe it or not, the teams certainly rate Lewis a lot higher than Carlos and they have the data to back it. Engineers would find the prospect of designing a car for Lewis Hamilton a lot more exciting than for Carlos Sainz, that is the truth

I like the fact that you made some really good points, but the part about Leclerc being prone to accidents you won't dignify with an answer because apparently he was not the last of the two to have a crash.

[Vanja #66]

This should be posted again

[Vinlarr89]

Looking forward to China, really unsure who will be on top there. Another circuit with a lot of deg but also a lot more slower speed corners.

[Elite]

What's everyone's general thoughts on how the car will perform at Suzuka. Today was a pleasant surprise and a great moral booster! The technical team has done a superb job.

[scuderiabrandon]

What's everyone's general thoughts on how the car will perform at Suzuka. Today was a pleasant surprise and a great moral booster! The technical team has done a superb job.

Again at least 2nd force to Red Bull with Mclaren close behind us. Aston & Mercedes a big step behind, Mercedes potentially 6/7th quickest.

Some teams will have upgrades so everything can go under the bus but as of now this is my prediction.

[CouncilorIrissa]

Looking forward to China, really unsure who will be on top there. Another circuit with a lot of deg but also a lot more slower speed corners.

If the cars spec remain the same by then, then the SF-24 should be really strong. There are few direction changes, yet very many loooooooong corners, and the SF-24 is proven to be a weapon in those.