Ferrari make intriguing prediction after ‘decisive’ SF-24 breakthrough made

Should the new Ferrari floor consistently match the numbers seen, they are right in the Constructors’ title fight with Red Bull and McLaren.

That is the opinion of Ferrari racer Carlos Sainz after the team claimed victory on home soil at Monza to delight the Tifosi, team-mate Charles Leclerc pulling off a one-stop masterclass to stun McLaren.

Ferrari SF-24 floor potentially ‘decisive’ in Constructors’ title race

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Ferrari introduced a new upgrade package at Monza, which included a new floor as the Scuderia looked to address the porpoising issue associated with their unsuccessful Spanish GP updates.

The first test at Monza was very encouraging indeed, Ferrari in a “genuine race” with McLaren, but Sainz wants more “samples” before he can form a true opinion on the success of the new floor.

“We were in a genuine race with the McLarens, which was great to see,” he told media including PlanetF1.com at Monza.

“At the same time, it’s Monza and a very particular Monza. We will need to wait to see more normal tracks to see if this upgrade has really turned our season around, and if we’re going to fight for wins from now on, or we are going to go back to what we saw in Zandvoort.

“We need more samples on this new floor, and we need to go to more normal tracks.

“I guess the next normal one is Austin, because then ones coming up are very particular, Baku and Singapore. Austin is more back to a more normal racetrack, and that will tell us how good we are with this new floor.”

But, should the new floor reflect the numbers which Ferrari are seeing in the simulator, then Sainz confirmed it will be “decisive” in Ferrari mounting a push for their first Constructors’ Championship victory since 2008.

The gap to leaders Red Bull is now down to just 39 points.

“Yes, it is decisive,” Sainz stated, “also for the Constructors’, because I guess we’ve been the team scoring the most points.

“And that means that it is a big chance, not only to get more wins through the year, but to fight for the Constructors’, which I think it is going to be, if we manage to be quick also in other tracks, tied with McLaren and Red Bull.”

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Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur believes this is the closest leading pack that Formula 1 has ever seen and predicted a “huge fight” for the Constructors’ title with eight rounds to go in F1 2024.

“I think it would be a huge mistake to try to draw any conclusion or to change the plan,” he told media including PlanetF1.com on Ferrari’s stance for the final third of the season.

“It’s a very long way to Abu Dhabi, we have something like 450 points on the table, and it’s so tight the fight, honestly, I spent a couple of years on the pit wall, but it’s the first time that I think in F1 we have this situation where eight drivers can win the race without accidents or any crash, that four teams are able to win or to be on the podium.

“And it’s changing from session to session. For me, the most impressive was probably Spa, where you had McLaren [top] in FP1, Red Bull in FP2, we started from pole and Mercedes won the race. I had the feeling that it’s almost like this everywhere, except Lando [Norris], who dominated last weekend in Zandvoort.

“But you can expect I think until the end of the season, it will be like this. And it will be a huge fight. And it’s true that with eight cars, with this kind of competitiveness, that one team can do one-two, and the other one seven-eight. I don’t want to speak about DNF, and this can make a huge difference in terms of points.

“That means that let’s be focused on Baku first and stabilise there.

“I was convinced that Zandvoort was a difficult one for us on the paper for different reasons, and I was convinced that the next three events will be probably a bit better.”

Stage one at Monza went according to Vasseur’s plan, as Ferrari now chase a first victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, an event won by Red Bull and Mercedes exclusively since it debuted in 2017.

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