Ferrari arrives in Monte Carlo after the upgrades SF-24 made its debut in Imola. The unique nature of the Monaco circuit makes it one of the trickier circuits to optimise the SF-24 ‘2.0’. Montreal and Barcelona, in this regard, will be far more telling.
With such a small sample size, the Imola GP was not enough to assess Ferrari’s new potential.
“Imola is not the optimal track for judging updates. Monaco won’t be either,” says Charles Leclerc, who arrives in Monaco to dispel his misfortunate on home soil.
Based on the data, the Ferrari’s worked as expected. Still, there is clearly more work to do to optimise the new package. The second package that will arrive at Silverstone, barring any changes in schedule, will aim to mitigate Ferrari’s weak points.
FERRARI SF-24 WITH A DIFFERENT REAR WING AFTER SEVEN RACES: HERE IS THE HIGH-LOAD REAR WING
Monaco is the most atypical and unique track historically within the F1 calendar. Qualifying will be more important than ever, which has been the Achilles’ heel of Ferrari in 2024, unlike last year. As we highlighted in an article a few days ago, the maximum load rear wing specification makes its debut in Monaco.
Comparison between the Imola rear wing and the Monaco high-load rear wing
The completely new specification follows the solutions integrated into the 2.0 package with a design already seen in the previous two years. Ferrari’s new wing matches the clipped endplate ears to the high-load robe. The main plane is horizontal, with an increased chord and a new DRS profile. It is the first truly different specification regarding the load level to make the SF-24 in 2024 so far.
At Suzuka, a high load specification was declared (justified as a configuration to be used in case of rain), but in fact, it was always kept in the Maranello team’s back garage. From the information in our possession, we can state that the Munich winger is a completely new specification for the 2024 season, different from the one declared and not seen in Japan.
On the SF-24, the rear load was almost entirely changed by changing the beam wing configuration, much more than was done in 2023. In Monaco, from the shots we took from the Ferrari garage, we saw an SF-24, which at high load wing combines a beam wing new in design, less gull wing as usually seen in the seven previous Grands Prix.
In Monaco, 90% of the final result is decided on Saturday. Ferrari’s SF-24 must give its drivers confidence. The RB20 performs best in low-speed corners, but it has shown struggles in navigating bumps. McLaren has improved this aspect a lot after Miami but still has a gap to close at low speeds. Ferrari is strong in the lead, but in Monaco, it will be important to have a perfect set-up in qualifying to give drivers the necessary confidence.
