With six races remaining in the season, Ferrari is already thinking about the future. It does this by working tirelessly on the 2024 car, very different from the SF-23, hiring new technicians from rival teams (such as Mercedes) and also thinking about acquiring new political power, exploiting the supply of PUs as a way to acquire “votes”. Supply that could concern, surprisingly, the possible eleventh team on the grid, Andretti Global.
With only five GPs left until the end of the season, we can say with reasonable certainty that Scuderia Ferrari’s 2023 has proven to be difficult and complicated, given the results achieved and the performance shown since the beginning of the year (except for a few small flashes). In fact, the Maranello team, after the red winter expectations, struggled a lot to extract the potential of the SF-23 which, despite being the evolution of the 2022 car, proved to be inconsistent, to the point of causing the Scuderia to only be P3 in the Constructors’ Championship at present.
A car which, as reported by the Italian website Formu1a.Uno, has been limited in its development and value (as happened to the 2022 F1-75) by the effects of TD039. For this reason, the 2024 car, which is in an advanced stage of development, will be totally different, in terms of lines and operation, from the current one.
“It is quietly admitted that the TD039 destroyed the philosophy of the excellent F1-75, while this year’s floor regulation change created a weeks-long stalemate in work on the SF-23. The result was a more isolated Ferrari and weaker, a car that was unable to reach the technicians’ objectives, creating a domino in understanding. […] It is no coincidence that the 2024 car is absorbing the remaining budget and will be ready as soon as possible with the aim of going test benches quickly and create reliable data runs. There will be no other large new parts on the SF-23 precisely because the 676 will operate very differently.”
In addition to the results, the Ferrari year was complicated, especially in the first months of the year, also by the changes that occurred within the team’s structure, such as the turnover of top figures that happened following the departure of team principal Mattia Binotto, followed from that of Sanchez in the spring and of Mekies. Goodbyes which, logically, were (or will be) followed by the arrival of new technicians from outside. Many junior technicians have already been hired by team principal Vasseur (also involved in political battles), but the arrival of some big shots also seems to have been defined, such as that of Loic Serra from Mercedes, heading to Italy at the end of 2024.
“Ferrari has closed the agreement for the arrival of Loic Serra. However, his entry into GeS in Maranello is not expected before 12 months. […] The best technicians who live in England find it difficult to move, it is the Ferrari that seems to be on an island. Furthermore, Vasseur is committed to getting out of a phase of solitude that has lasted too long.”
And precisely on a political level, Ferrari is starting to move to try to gain greater political weight by exploiting satellite teams. In addition to the Haas team (very loyal to Maranello), Vasseur is looking for a valid alternative to Sauber which, from 2026, will become Audi. To do this, the Frenchman seems to be thinking about the Andretti team which, after having obtained the green light from the FIA, could really become the eleventh team on the grid. Team that, upon entry, must guarantee the supply of power unit and gearbox but the choices seem to be few: Renault does not seem interested, but eager to concentrate on the 2026 PU, Mercedes is not convinced of expanding the customer base and Red Bull Powertrains probably will not be capable of managing three teams as early as 2026. The only team to have shown neutrality, to date, appears to be Ferrari.
“Maranello has currently lost long-term supply with Sauber slowly becoming Audi. It may be strongly interested in supplying a third team, seeing it as one of the necessary steps to rebuild its political weight, which has been greatly reduced in recent years.”
Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari
