Ferrari set for completely different 2024 car launch after SF-23 hype fail – report

Michelle Foster
Ferrari front wing

Ferrari are preparing a drastically different car for 2024.

Having launched last year’s SF-23 with fanfare and proclamations of a car of “unprecedented speed” only to be destroyed by Red Bull, Ferrari have reportedly opted for a low-key unveiling this season.

The 2024 car, dubbed ‘676’ for now, is expected to be launched in an online-only presentation that will take place on 13 February.

Last season Ferrari embraced Valentine’s Day and hosted a launch event at the Fiorano circuit with a specially erected grandstand packed with 500 Tifosi decked out in red.

Ferrari reportedly want to avoid media hype in 2024

After Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz spoke to the fans, they took turns in the car with the Monegasque driver saying: “It felt great to drive it here at Fiorano today, sharing the experience with our tifosi and partners.

“Our target for the season will be to do even better than last season, bring home more victories and be more consistent. The biggest goal will be to win both championships and we will do everything to achieve this.”

Those proclamations included Benedetto Vigna, Ferrari CEO, stating that the 2023 car was a “single-seater that will be unprecedented in terms of speed”. It was not.

As the season got underway and Ferrari suffered one defeat after another to Red Bull, Leclerc admitted he knew with “the first laps” in the SF-23 that “something didn’t add up” with the car.

With last year’s disappointment still fresh in their memories, this season Ferrari intend keeping their launch low-key.

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According to AutoSprint, Ferrari will do an online presentation of the new car citing “management’s proclamations last February, which later turned out to be excessively optimistic” as the likely reason, “Maranello wishes to keep expectations lower also by creating less media hype with the presentation”.

Ferrari won just one Grand Prix in 2023 with Sainz P1 at the Singapore race, the team finishing the championship a disappointing P3 where they were a whopping 454 points short of Red Bull’s P1 tally.

The online unveiling also means the car will be kept a secret from rival teams until it hits the track at the Circuit de Catalunya on 21 February for the start of pre-season testing.

Read next: Ferrari Project 676: More rumoured details emerge on Ferrari’s mystery car