Frederic Vasseur admitted that, compared to last year, Ferrari’s consistency in the long-run tests is positive also considering the low degradation the SF24 had compared to the SF23.
Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have spent a lot of time working on race pace simulations during the three days of testing in Bahrain. Despite being quick on Saturday, Ferrari wasn’t able to keep up the pace during the race in 2023. That was due to high tire wear with a lot of fuel onboard.
Therefore, that was a weakness the Maranello-based team wanted to improve for the 2024 season. After collecting some data, it’s possible to see that even after a few laps, there is not a sudden drop in performance when simulating a long-run.
Despite a good start, Vasseur knows that being consistent is not enough, but Ferrari must also be fast. Not only that, he also reckons that Red Bull is still the team to beat, but the Scuderia will keep pushing to close the gap.
“With the consistency and the race pace, the degradation that we had yesterday for the longest stint was on another planet compared to last year,” Vasseur told F1TV.
“At least on this we’ve made a step, but now it is not just a matter of being consistent, but fast. We know that we always have to pay attention to the conclusions after the test.
“The most important thing is to trust the guys because their feedback was positive, and we have seen a lot of development for sure.
“I think Red Bull is still ahead, but let’s continue to push and see where we will be next week.”