Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said that the Scuderia made great progress in terms of consistency, tire management, and building a much easier car to drive.
The biggest issue for the Italian team in 2023 was that, after a great performance on Saturday, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz couldn’t repeat their performance during the race. The car became way more difficult to drive and there were major issues with tire degradation.
Therefore, that became the key area to improve for the 2024 season, and Ferrari did just that. Vasseur also admitted that he is happy to see such great progress in the areas that were a weakness for Ferrari in 2023.
“We made a huge step forward,” he said. “Perhaps on the pace of one lap, it’s true that we were nowhere near last year on a one-lap pace.
“But where we made a huge step, I think it’s more on the consistency between the two compounds. Between one stint and the other one, the car is much easier to drive.
“Much easier to read also for our drivers, and by the way much easier to develop. And it’s probably the biggest step that we did compared to last year, to have something that we cannot easily manage, but at least have a good read of the car quite early into the weekend.”
Vasseur also underlined how important it is to have an easy car to drive in order to not compromise the race.
“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 making mistakes, damaging the tires. And then it’s kind of a negative spiral.
“This year, it’s much easier I think to read for them, to know where is the limit, 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 survival mode, and by this, you are killing the tires quite quickly.”