Ferrari is 36 points short of its first Formula 1 World Championship since 2008, but the team will not be throwing any major updates into the mix to make up the difference
Before the last triple header of the 2024 Formula 1 season, Ferrari still has a mathematical chance of winning the Constructors’ World Championship. Currently, the Italian Scuderia from Maranello is 36 points behind McLaren and 13 points ahead of Red Bull in second place in the team standings. And that’s with a maximum of 147 points still to be awarded in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
In doing so, Ferrari is largely relying on the technology that was ignited as a major update at the home race in Monza. Since then, there have been no technical updates at all in Baku, Singapore, Austin and Sao Paulo, and for Mexico only the air vents have been revised – a purely track-specific modification.
No further changes are planned for the grand finale: “We have been concentrating on next year’s project for months. There will be no more,” confirms team principal Frederic Vasseur.
Ferrari probably had the most competitive overall package in the entire field, as evidenced by the victories in Monza, Austin and Mexico. The fact that only 20 points were collected in Brazil (McLaren: 27) was probably more due to the unpredictable weather conditions than to a shift in the balance of power. And many experts consider Las Vegas to be Ferrari territory.
According to Vasseur, however, they are not looking so much at the overall standings, but “from race to race. I think that’s the best attitude: just concentrate on yourself and don’t do the math. I don’t even know exactly how it stands. Well, I know our place, but not the points. And that’s how I’ll keep it.”
Before the rainy race Sunday in Brazil, Vasseur admits, they already suspected that it could be a difficult Grand Prix: “For McLaren almost even more than for us. But at least we didn’t lose many points this weekend,” he says, trying to find something positive in Interlagos.
“Of course, I’d much rather be gaining points than losing them. That means the next few weekends have to be better than this one. But it’s not a disaster. Vegas could be a lot better for us. We need to score some big points there,” the Frenchman announced.
