Ferrari make ‘double gains’ on Red Bull, McLaren with ‘fast-tracked’ upgrade

Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear has revealed the team have “somewhat fast tracked” their upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix with the aim of getting a step ahead of F1 2024 rivals Red Bull and McLaren.

Ferrari arrived at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a significant update – featuring alterations to the rear wing, sidepods, engine cover, floor, diffuser and halo – as the F1 2024 development race intensifies.

Ferrari Spanish GP upgrades ‘fast tracked’ as F1 2024 hots up

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

The Scuderia’s latest upgrade comes just five weeks after Ferrari introduced a sizeable package at their first home race of the year at Imola, with World Championship leaders Red Bull also bringing a range of improvements to Spain.

After a dominant start to the F1 2024 season, Red Bull’s superiority at the front has been challenged over recent weeks with Max Verstappen winning just two of the last four races.

Red Bull hold a 49-point advantage over Ferrari going into this weekend, with Verstappen 56 ahead of Monaco Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc as things stand.

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Ferrari showed encouraging pace in practice in Barcelona, with Leclerc’s team-mate and home hero Carlos Sainz classified in the top three in both FP1 and FP2.

With the Spanish circuit renowned as a thorough test of a car’s strengths, Clear has revealed that Ferrari have introduced their latest upgrade earlier than planned in an attempt to steal a march on the opposition.

He told media including PlanetF1.com: “It was somewhat fast tracked.

“Barcelona is a fantastic circuit to evaluate a car, so if you can you’re always going to want to come to Barcelona with a package.

“That’s why we do pre-season here. And as a result of doing pre-season, we’ve got so much experience here that it levels all of the other variables for us and you get a good a good read on a package, so it’s always a good place to come.

“I think, honestly, because the Imola package was a good step maybe this [upgrade] was [originally] scheduled for later,  because this triple-header offers you three good opportunities. Austria and Silverstone are also very good [tracks to introduce upgrades].

“But we did push it forward a bit, just because it’s super close at the moment and if you can come one race earlier the gains are double effectively.

“It’s always a race, isn’t it? So it’s not just what our upgrades are doing, it’s what other people are doing.

“And if we can just get an upgrade one step earlier than the others, then you carry that forward a bit.”

Asked if the Barcelona package is an even more extreme version of the Imola upgrade, he replied: “It’s very much along similar lines.

“It’s targeting the same areas: the floor edge, what wraps under the floor in front of the rear tyre, and then what energises the diffuser expansion at the back.

“Both the upgrades looking at similar areas. Subtle differences, but differences nonetheless.

“So they do complement each other. It’s not like all of the Barcelona update kit overlays on top of the Imola one. Actually, they’re in different areas.

“There’s bits of the Imola kit that are still on the Barcelona update, so they do complement each other.”

Clear stressed the need for Ferrari to produce a more “benign” car for Leclerc and Sainz, having targeted improved driveability over the last 12 months.

He said: “We’ve often spoken about how we’re looking to make the car a bit more benign, how we’re looking to calm it down a bit.

“A lot of what we’ve done in the last year is very much based on that and in parallel to always having to just keep adding downforce, because that that is a no brainer.

“This is just a an incremental upgrade, so this is just a little bit more downforce and a little bit less drag.

“So it’s slightly more efficient and that just that just wins everywhere, but it doesn’t particularly change the shape.”

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