The Ferrari SF-24 was launched in front of a small audience of guests today, while the rest of the world watched online. It is the 70th car the company has built to take part in the Formula 1 World Championship. Attending the presentation at the Fiorano track were President John Elkann, CEO Benedetto Vigna and Vice-President Piero Ferrari, along with representatives of the partners, as well as team members, starting with Team Principal Fred Vasseur and the drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The busiest season ever, with no fewer than 24 races, gets underway next week in Bahrain with the only pre-season three-day test session, followed by the first grand prix at the same venue, on Saturday 2 March.
The SF-24 is the third car of the new Formula 1 ground effect generation, but it breaks with the tradition of the past two years, starting with the look of it. The design group, led by Enrico Cardile, aimed to give Charles and Carlos a car that is easy to drive and that reacts predictably, with as a starting point, the positive feeling the drivers had in the cockpit over the final few races of last season. The goal is to allow them to make the most of the power unit’s potential, combined with their undoubted skill behind the wheel.
The SF-24 is the third car of the new Formula 1 ground effect generation, but it breaks with the tradition of the past two years, starting with the look of it. The design group, led by Enrico Cardile, aimed to give Charles and Carlos a car that is easy to drive and that reacts predictably, with as a starting point, the positive feeling the drivers had in the cockpit over the final few races of last season. The goal is to allow them to make the most of the power unit’s potential, combined with their undoubted skill behind the wheel.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (whooshing)
00:02 - Well, for sure, the first time you see a car
00:16 is always a special moment, no?
00:17 It's the first time you see the shapes,
00:20 you see the colors, you see how it's gonna look,
00:23 what you're gonna drive for 2024.
00:25 And I've seen, yeah, a completely different look,
00:28 both on the shapes, but also on the design.
00:31 And it excites me because I just cannot wait to drive it.
00:35 I've been looking forward to this moment
00:36 the last couple of months, and it's finally happening.
00:39 Well, my input, of course,
00:51 is all the technical feedback from last year's car,
00:55 put together with all the technical input
00:58 from all the engineers.
00:59 We spent a lot of hours in the simulator,
01:02 also developing this car,
01:04 so my feedback is purely a technical feeling,
01:08 driving point of view,
01:09 which I hope it's gonna make it go faster.
01:12 I think we've been putting a lot of hours,
01:16 a lot of emphasis into a lot of small details of this car
01:19 that hopefully is gonna give us
01:20 a bit more of an edge this year.
01:22 I really don't like going into specifics
01:27 of how the car feels in the simulator
01:33 because it's obviously something very private for the team.
01:36 But yes, it definitely feels different.
01:38 The target is for the car to feel different,
01:40 to give more confidence to the drivers,
01:43 and to be able to extract more lap time from it.
01:46 Last year wasn't easy in that front,
01:48 but this year I'm pretty sure we have made steps
01:51 in the right direction.
01:52 Whether it will be enough or not,
01:54 only time will tell.
01:55 For sure, we are trying to improve all the areas.
02:05 I think if we really want to challenge
02:06 for the world title this year,
02:08 we need to improve in every single area of the car.
02:10 And that's exactly what we've been trying to do
02:13 all the winter and the past season,
02:15 to try and improve every single area.
02:17 Don't leave anything without touching it
02:21 or without trying to improve it.
02:23 And with that approach and with that mindset,
02:25 this car is wanting to improve in every single area.
02:28 My main intention is simply for the car
02:38 to be a bit more drivable.
02:40 I think I have a wider window of performance,
02:42 of drivability.
02:45 Last year, it is true that we struggled
02:47 in certain conditions, in certain circuits,
02:49 we were not as strong as we should,
02:51 while the car in others was very strong.
02:53 We struggled a bit also with predictability
02:56 at the beginning of the year.
02:57 We managed to improve it as the season went on.
03:00 So yeah, just having a wider window of performance
03:04 and hopefully that making our races a bit easier.
03:07 Do you think the race will be as competitive
03:09 as the last season?
03:11 Or will it be more competitive?
03:13 What are your predictions?
03:15 What are your expectations?
03:17 What are your expectations for the future?
03:19 My prediction is that yes, it should be.
03:22 In the end, when you look at the 2023 season,
03:25 as the races were going by,
03:27 the competition was getting tighter and tighter
03:29 across the whole field.
03:30 I remember a lot of Q1s, Q2s and Q3s
03:33 that there was barely anything between a lot of teams.
03:36 So moving forward to a year,
03:38 I think everyone's going to converge even more
03:41 and the competition is going to be even tighter.
03:43 So that's why every single detail,
03:46 every single small advantage that you can get
03:50 and improve is going to be key
03:52 because the field is going to be extremely tight.
03:55 What is your message to the fans?
04:00 A very quick message of thank you
04:05 for the support that we received
04:07 all the last few seasons,
04:09 for the support that I'm sure we're going to receive in 2024.
04:12 Thank you for being there always, supporting us.
04:15 Thank you for being in the tough moments
04:17 and also in the good moments,
04:19 knowing that there were plenty also last year.
04:21 So let's keep pushing all together.
04:23 We've done everything we can to produce
04:26 and to create a fast car this year.
04:29 And with your support, I'm sure we can push for the best.
04:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]