After McLaren’s big upgrade package helped Lando Norris take his first Formula 1 win in Miami, Ferrari and Mercedes will be looking to hit back at Imola with new parts.
The closest war for 2024 that many predicted before the start of the season, after all, threatens to materialise with Norris’ blistering speed in Florida, suggesting McLaren will be able to take on Red Bull on circuits fit for the MCL38.
While Max Verstappen won four of the first six races in a strong start in his quest for a fourth consecutive drivers’ title, Ferrari also produced enough speed at times to challenge Red Bull, especially as Carlos Sainz led the Italian team to a victory. -two in Australia.
Over successive Sprint weekends, Ferrari has been unable to maintain its early-season form, although Charles Leclerc managed to secure the final podium position, Norris and Verstappen in Miami.
Amid the frenetic atmosphere that will be created through the tifosi in the first of two Ferrari races this season, expectations will rise with the arrival of updates.
While it’s too early for Formula 1 enthusiasts to get carried away, the prospect of Ferrari making the kind of progress that could see three groups battling it out for victory at Imola and beyond, sets up a wildly exciting weekend.
While McLaren stunned the paddock by revealing what managing director Zak Brown admitted was necessarily a B-spec car in Miami, it’s unlikely we’ll see a repeat of that at Imola.
McLaren had said at the launch of the MCL38 in February that it was what it had planned for the car to go, which explains why the team brought such a comprehensive upgrade package so early in the season.
Speaking after the race in Miami, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur insisted he did not expect a “groundbreaking change” for the season as a whole, but admitted the new parts had prospects of having short-term effects.
“I think it’s an idea about the progression of this existing car, and when we incorporate something, it’s never a mega improvement,” Vasseur said.
“It’s also true that when in qualifying you have four or five cars within a tenth, if you bring a tenth, it adjusts the game for the weekend.
As has been the case with most of the grid with the existing generation of design regulations, putting cars in a forged operating window has proven to be a tricky element, and Vasseur believes that a high-performance setup is just as vital as making improvements.
He added: “But a big component of the result also comes from what we do with the drivers, the set-up of the car over the weekend, the management of the tyres.
“We don’t have to think only about innovations and development. That also includes the paintings we do along the way. “
Some in the paddock had speculated that Ferrari had planned a first significant upgrade to come to Italy, where the team continues to come under increased scrutiny from enthusiasts and the national media.
However, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, being the first European race of the season on the existing calendar, offers an excellent finishing point for upgrades.
The two months since the start of the season have given teams time to extend their odds, while the European is much more convenient for getting odds than the first five rounds, especially for Ferrari.
Vasseur said: “When you do development, it’s not like we need to bring anything to Imola because it’s in Italy, we drive development. And as soon as we’re ready, we produce parts. “
“The fact that Imola is close to the factory also helps to bring anything to the table because we can take out the portions a little later.
“But it has nothing to do with Italy. And again, we shouldn’t expect him to be a game-changer, but he’s so close that he can bring performance. “
Mercedes brought new parts to Miami, but its adjustments were overshadowed when McLaren unveiled a near-new car.
Extremely disappointing Fridays and Saturdays seemed to suggest that the innovations had had little impact, but Lewis Hamilton nonetheless showed clever speed in Sunday’s race to give some hope.
Despite Hamilton’s encouraging sixth-place finish, the Silver Arrows are still desperate for consistency and hope that the rest of their package can at least bring some improvement in that area.
The main replacement in Miami was an updated floor, while there was also a “small tweak” to the front suspension.
Speaking at Mercedes’ official race review, track engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “We have controlled the transfer of part of our upgrade kit to Miami and then the other part will arrive at Imola, and we are running long-duration races. to verify and bring them breakthroughs as well.
“Did it work as planned? Yes, everything turns out to be giving the functionality we expected from the field.
“The challenge at the moment is that everyone is getting their cars up, so you’ve noticed McLaren with a big package and they seem to have progressed and also the behavioural challenges that the drivers have to deal with make it difficult to see everything. This functionality kind of like an undeniable step forward. “
While Shovlin described what will take place at Imola as the “other half” of Mercedes’ upgrade package, he also showed that more updates are expected to be kept at a later time.
“What we tend to find is that the car from one query to another can behave very differently and until we get that under control, we’re going to reduce the benefits that we can get from those kinds of upgrades,” Shovlin added. .
“But after the last few races, we now have a very transparent concept of what we want to do with the car to make it a little bit less difficult for the drivers, making sure it goes where they want it to go when they want it to. . ” in those qualifying rounds.
“And we also have a number of smart updates coming in the next 3 or 4 races. A lot of difficult tasks are being done, but we will soon begin to see their completion. “
Thursday May p. m. 1:30 a. m. : Driver Press Conference
Friday May 178:50: Practice F310h: Practice F212h: Practice 1 of the Emilia Romagna GP (start of the consultation at 12:30)14:00: Qualifying F314:55: Qualifying F215:45: Practice 2 of the Emilia Romagna GP (start of the consultation at 16:00) 17:30: The F1 Show
Saturday May 189h: F3 Sprint 11h15: Practice 3 of the Emilia Romagna GP (start of the consultation at 11h30) 13h10: F2 Sprint 14h10: Preparation of the Emilia Romagna GP qualifying 15h: Qualifying of the Emilia Romagna GP 17h: Ted’s Qualifying Book 17h30: Indy 500 Qualifying
Sunday May 19:30: Featured Race F39h: Featured Race F212:30: Grand Prix Sunday: Preparation for the Emilia Romagna GP 14:00: Emilia Romagna GRAND PRIX 16:00: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna GP Reaction 17:00: Ted’s Diary 20:00: Indy 500 qualifying
Formula 1 heads to Europe as Imola returns to the calendar after the cancellation of last year’s race. Watch the Emilia Romagna GP from May 17 to 19. Stream any and all F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month subscription: no contract, cancel anytime
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