Ferrari Drivers Not 'In Survival Mode' Like Last Year According To Vasseur

Sunday, 31 March 2024 at 21:00

The principal of the team from Maranello, Frederic Vasseur, explained one aspect that put his drivers out of "survival mode" during the 2024 season.

Ferrari struggled throughout the 2023 season mainly because of two problems. The first was that their car suffered from high tire degradation during races.

The second was that the drivers weren't at all confident in the car; they complained about drivability and stability, and it would often manifest in real-time as it led to mistakes. As motorsport.com reports, Fred Vasseur said:

"What is true is that last year, the main issue was the fact that the car was very difficult to drive into the race."

"Then you had to do a step [in the pace], you were doing mistakes, damaging the tires. And then it's kind of negative spiral."

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However, this season, Ferrari managed to make a great step forward and fix these issues. In fact, Scuderia made the "biggest step" from last year, according to Lando Norris.

Ferrari is now clearly the second team and has halved the gap to Red Bull compared to what it was during the last season at this time.

In Australia, the Italian team even showed they could go toe-to-toe with the Austrian squad if the circuit characteristics suited them. Vasseur added:

"This year, it's much easier, I think, for them to read, to know where the limit is, and to stay just a bit below. And when you have to go to tire management, it's much, much easier."

"They are much more under control than they were last year, when they were a bit in the survival mode, and by this you are killing the tires quite quickly."

Though they showed a solid performance during the most recent race, it isn't expected Ferrari will now challenge Red Bull at every single Grand Prix.

At least not until they introduce their significant upgrade. Vasseur suggested the platform his team has now is great to build on, so it will be interesting to watch whether Ferrari can get even closer to the team from Milton Keynes in 2024.

Quite a few teams, including Scuderia, are expected to bring their bigger upgrades around rounds six or seven—either the Miami or Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.