Ferrari’s car launch seemed promising. A lot of changes to the car, a new livery, new aspirations for the year, and renewed hope for the Tifosi.
Team boss Fred Vasseur, however, was not one for the fanfare. While the new season is starting, he is not focused on the livery, he is focused on improving.
While Ferrari finished a distant third and got the only non-Red Bull win of the season thanks to Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore, 2023 was disappointing overall.
Although they improved as the season went on and took quite a few poles in qualifying post-summer break, the inherent tyre degradation on the SF-23 ultimately cost them more wins against the mighty RB19.
When asked about how it feels to see the new car, Vasseur reiterated that as long as the car performs, that is what matters to him. The livery and the design, however, do not.
“It’s always the same feeling, we’re not paying too much attention to the livery or the design or the car. At the end of the day, as a racer we are more focused on the fact that it’s a transition between the end of the project of the conception on one end and the start of the season and a new project. This kind of feeling is always very exciting and we witnessed that today.”
Vasseur’s comments were echoed by the drivers when they first saw the car. The stakes remain high for both of them, with Charles Leclerc looking to cement his spot as the number one driver before Lewis Hamilton comes in, and Carlos Sainz making a name for himself for interested suitors.
“As usual, the drivers, they are much more focused on performance and such than on livery and design and this is quite normal. They had the first test in the simulator before they are really focused on performance.”
The Ferrari will feature some new bits of white and yellow. With that, the Frenchman explained the reason behind the new colours, as well as reaffirming the red base will remain.
“For sure the base is still red, it will stay red for sure, it is very important for us. We have a new touch of white and yellow because it’s Modena and the white because it’s coherent with the approach of the company.”
Vasseur also continued to say that he saw some positives from 2023 as the season went on, and wants to bring them into 2024 to bring the team more success. The Suzuka update in particular helped cure some evil traits the car had.
“We have to build up 2024 on the last part of the 2023 season as we had a good last part of the season. We are also going to focus on the weaknesses of 2023 and to be much more opportunistic in terms of points scored and we will be focused on this.”
However, even with a crystal ball, Vasseur has no idea what to expect for his season. The same is echoed in his message to the Ferrari faithful.
“I’m still not able to see something on the crystal ball because they don’t give me the manual. But, we need to continue the progression that we had at the end of the 2023 season, we need to be able to score more points, to be more performant for sure, to be more efficient, and it’s one of the biggest weaknesses of last year, and we will be focused on this.“
