Team boss Fred Vasseur has confirmed that Scuderia Ferrari’s 2024 challenger — the 676 — will be unveiled on the 13th of February.
“The launch will take place on the 13th of February, the day before Valentine’s Day, and then you will see the rest on the 13th.”
Ferrari came out of the box incredibly strong in 2022 as they won two of the first three races, but it fell away horribly as the season went on as car development went in the wrong direction under the leadership of former boss Mattia Binotto.
That carried into 2023 as the SF-23 was a package that was on a knife’s edge for most of the season. It hampered both drivers, but it was a bigger impact for Charles Leclerc due to his driving style.
In spite of improvements as the season went on and taking the only non-Red Bull win in 2023 thanks to Carlos Sainz in Singapore, they missed out on beating Mercedes for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship by three points.
Vasseur explained to selected media at Maranello that the 2024 challenger will be significantly different — but he stopped short of calling it a complete revolution.
“Revolutionary is not the right word. We’ve had the same technical regulations for three years now and in this situation you can’t change a design massively.
“We are in a scenario where what makes the difference is a handful of tenths of a second. Having said that, we definitely have to take a step forward and not underestimate anything, we will change 95% of the components of the car, and putting it like that it may sound like a revolution, but it’s not.
“What I can say now is that everyone is pushing, and the drivers are also involved at the heart of the project.”
Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
The contracts of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz run out at the conclusion of the 2024 season. In spite of consistent and strong rumours that the Monegasque driver has signed a long-term deal and Sainz a 2-year one, no official announcement has yet been made.
Going by Vasseur’s words to the media on Friday, new deals for Sainz and Leclerc are still to be sorted.
“As you know, they are under contract with us until the end of 2024, which means we still have a few months ahead of us.
“Last year Mercedes renewed the contract for 2024 for both of their drivers at the end of August, so I think we still have weeks and months ahead of us.
“I told you a year ago that I would try to make a decision by the end of this year, but I have to admit that the last part of the season was very challenging.
“We met and started discussions, but we are a bit behind schedule.
“I don’t see that as a problem at all, we will make a decision soon.”
