Ferrari has given a strong hint that they plan to use an entirely different 2024 F1 car concept compared to the Mercedes W15 in their pursuit of World Champions Red Bull.
Red Bull delivered what would become the most dominant Formula One season in history in 2023, winning 21 of the 22 races as Max Verstappen won the championship with relative ease for the third time in a row.
Besides Red Bull, only Ferrari won a grand prix last season as Carlos Sainz upset Max Verstappen’s record of ten straight wins in Singapore, although the Scuderia ultimately lost out to rival Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ championship.
Despite Red Bull’s unchallenged dominance in the sport, Ferrari and Mercedes intend to retaliate in 2024 now that everyone is more conscious of their strategies after the introduction of the ground effect rules for Formula One in 2022.
Red Bull engineering genius Adrian Newey was commended for realizing that the integration of the car’s floor and suspension is crucial under the current regulations and the RB19’s anti-dive suspension proved to be a significant advantage in 2023.
Mercedes’ technical director James Allison recently said that the team has put a great deal of emphasis on this area with the new W15, with the 2024 chassis expected to be a major difference from the 2023 car which recorded zero wins.
Allison noted that at the conclusion of their last campaign, Mercedes had a significantly different perspective of how to effectively make use of the ground effect regulations than the team had at the same point in 2022.
“We’ve got a much better handle on how you get the aero platform and the spring platform to be happier bedfellows,” he said. “That is the main challenge.”
However, Ferrari technical chief Enrico Cardile has dismissed this component of the car as exaggerated and rejected the notion that the suspension is crucial to teams’ expectations in this day and age.
“The suspensions and setup are overrated, in my opinion, at this point,” he said. “With the setup, you can work within a window in which the car works. But the car gives you this window.
“Today, the suspensions are designed to support the aerodynamics and still deliver reasonable kinematics.
“The layout of the suspension has to be massively wrong to have an influence on car performance.”
Next month, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull will all unveil their 2024 F1 cars over three days. The Scuderia will mark the first team to unveil their new challenger on February 13.
Mercedes has chosen to hold a virtual launch event at Silverstone on February 14, while Red Bull will be unveiling their car that Verstappen will use to defend his title the next day.
Speaking last month, Allison disclosed that Mercedes hopes to contend for the Drivers’ and Constructors’ crowns in 2024 after putting up a rather ambitious program with the W15.
While Mercedes and Ferrari have so far adopted different design philosophies during the ground effect era, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has pledged that the next car, rumored to be designated Project 676, will be 95% new.
