Charles Leclerc has dispelled the notion that Ferrari has had to make “compromises” with its 2024 Formula 1 car to improve upon the weaknesses of its predecessor.
Ferrari had entered the previous season aiming to mount a sustained title challenge having returned to race-winning ways upon F1’s return to ground effect aero in 2022.
However, the team’s 2023 creation, an evolution of its F1-75 challenger from 2022, emerged as an unpredictable machine that was prone to erratic performance swings.
Having abandoned its previous concept in favour of the downwash sidepod solution last year, Ferrari vowed to change “95 per cent” of the components from the SF-23.
Speaking after trialling the SF-24, which has been described as a “complete revamp”, Leclerc expressed he had been enthused with the car’s handling on a virtual model.
“On the simulator, yes I like the behaviour of the car. In the real laps I’ve done today, it’s too early yet,” Leclerc told selected media including Motorsport Week.
“For now I don’t want to comment too much on the first few laps I’ve done this morning because I wasn’t actually pushing yet.”
Despite Ferrari’s improvement seeing it become a threat to Red Bull over one lap, Carlos Sainz’s win in Singapore was the only time it converted its seven pole positions.
Asked if he had given recommendations to the engineers to improve Ferrari’s race pace, Leclerc replied: “Yes, however I think we are in a time in Formula 1 where it changed quite a bit, now Formula 1 has so much technology, so many ways in order to improve a car and basically the main target for engineers is to try and have the fastest car by adding downforce and having less drag possible.
“But of course we had a problem of balance which was mostly linked to the outside conditions, which is wind sensitivity, especially, but also temperature, ambient and track, and this was affecting probably more the race pace than the quali pace, and in that as drivers we have an important feedback to give to the team as these are things that are a bit more difficult to find on data.
“However, the general performance of the car now is based mostly on the technology and working on having a better and a faster car.”
Despite Ferrari’s resurgence last season, Sainz suggested the team might have to cede some of the strengths of the SF-23 at the expense of a more balanced package.
However, Leclerc has quashed the suggestion that the Maranello-based squad had to make sacrifices on development to deliver a more compliant and consistent car.
“No, I don’t think there were any compromises that way,” he asserted. “I think you compromise more time to actually improve those areas more than actually compromising one area for the other.
“Let me explain better. You compromise the time of the engineer that instead of focusing on adding points to the car they are focusing on adding more driveability to the car, but that’s the only thing you compromise in a way and I don’t even call it a compromise.
“I think it’s just the way we need to work and that was one of the priorities, but it’s not like ah the car is more driveable but we had to compromise the drag of the car.”
“I don’t think it came out with any downside of improving that particular area to the car.”
Leclerc has also cautioned that Ferrari should avoid believing it has solved all its pressing issues in the circumstance where it sustains an encouraging showing in Bahrain.
“Looking back at the previous years you always need to wait two or three races to feel how strong of a package you have on different tracks,” he warned.
“Sometimes you can have a very strong package on one track and you get to another track and you are struggling much more.
“We will always have to wait two or three races to see our car in different conditions, different wind, different temperature , different track layout, before actually drawing conclusions of what can be achieved that season. But of course we will have a good picture of where we are at after the first race.”
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