Ferrari Already Has Better Car Than It Presented At Official Launch

Thursday, 22 February 2024 at 02:15

Vehicle project manager at Ferrari, Enrico Cardille, spoke at length about Ferrari's newly revealed SF-24 that we see on track in Bahrain today, February 21st.

It was suggested that the development of cars for the 2024 season is essential because the teams will not make significant changes to these cars in 2025.

In 2026, F1 will enter new regulations, which will bring a massive opportunity for every single team to make a comeback. They can officially start building their cars for 2026 from the beginning of the year 2025.

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This should mean that teams will want to take most of their resources away from developing the 2025 car. However, Enrico Cardille suggested it doesn't necessarily have to be true. He told the media after Ferrari's launch of SF-24:

"It is not strictly necessary for this car to last two years because this year will be a new season, full focus, focused on these regulations, so we will go through our normal development process. We will develop this car during the season and design a new car for next season. We as a team are still fully committed and focused on developing and preparing the first updates of this car.

However, one interesting thing (that was maybe also a bit expected) that the Italian suggested is that Ferrari's presented car is behind what the team has already prepared in their wind tunnel.

"The only thing I can say [about the updates], is that the car in the wind tunnel is already further developed compared to the presented car."

Cardille added that the first and most crucial step is to see how the current version of SF-24 measures compares to their rivals.

"So the first step is to see where we stand compared to our competitors. The work in the wind tunnel is progressing. The car is developing. If we put those two things together, we can decide where to release the first updates."

The teams will get a good idea of where they stand during the pre-season testing that is currently in progress in Bahrain from the 21st to the 23rd of February.