Ferrari becomes McLaren's main challenger and can count on extra weapon amid F1 title battle
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It had not happened since the 2022 Formula 1 championship with the F1-75 single-seater that Scuderia Ferrari won two consecutive Grand Prix races. In the Mexico City Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz did what his Maranello teammate had managed to do a week earlier at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. A decisive and well-deserved victory for the Spaniard, who also took pole position for Ferrari, which is always a complicated feat taking into consideration the characteristics of the SF-24 car, in a weekend with fewer issues than the ones encountered by Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris came between the two reds, denying the Prancing Horse the chance to achieve another amazing one-two finish after the one in Austin. Nonetheless, a first and third place are important results in the Constructors’ standings with just four races remaining in the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Ferrari is now second in the Constructors’ standings and is the true challenger of McLaren. The consistency of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz could be the extra weapon Ferrari needs to win the title.
The SF-24 has become the real antagonist of the English team leading the constructors’ championship, with Red Bull completely out of the picture at this stage, and even Max Verstappen himself admitting they have not truly been in the fight in recent weeks for the most coveted title of many team owners. Ferrari's comeback could be considered remarkable, as the Charles Leclerc – Carlos Sainz duo has clawed back 46 points from McLaren in two weekends, putting them in second place, 29 points behind, with four Grands Prix to go. The former car of Italian aerodynamicist Enrico Cardile has been put back on the right track with the aerodynamic update packages introduced in the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit and in the Singapore Grand Prix, proving overseas that the progress made is more than significant.
Is Ferrari now globally the best car? The Maranello technicians and engineers don't want to hear it, partly because they are sure the Mexican GP would have been much harder to win without the key skirmishes between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The latter showed the best race pace after switching to hard tires and with the track cooling, although he was clearly slowed by Max Verstappen in the first part of the race, where Ferrari managed to open up a gap that guaranteed Carlos Sainz’s victory at the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
The British McLaren driver used the new floor throughout the Mexican weekend, which was not certain at the start, indicating that the significant improvements expected by the Woking team were evident on the track in the second free practice session. As for Charles Leclerc, he had to manage a lot, with constant lift-and-coast that prevented him from maintaining his teammate’s pace and from keeping the tires in the optimal window. It's also worth noting that skipping the first free practice session and being unable to work significantly on setups in FP2 due to the hour and a half dedicated mainly to Pirelli tire testing did not help the Monegasque driver. Charles Leclerc, who had already adapted more slowly to the new balance created by a much more flexible front wing debuted in the Singapore Grand Prix, only found an edge with setup changes between the Sprint and Main Race that allowed him to dominate on the American Sunday. In Mexico, time was limited for the Monegasque, who approached the qualifying session almost blind in terms of setup, which kept him from performing on par with his Maranello teammate.
Mexico has removed any doubts about the improvement of the SF-24 single-seater, but will Interlagos close the circle?
The Italian side is now clearly the main opponent of McLaren, and the gap to the top, after the latest developments brought to the SF-24, seems to have practically disappeared in certain phases and technical areas. So, the consistency of the Charles Leclerc – Carlos Sainz duo could be the extra weapon in an unlikely pursuit, at least until a few weeks ago, of the Constructors’ title, which Ferrari has not seen since the 2008 F1 campaign. If the car is capable of competing for victory, it seems more likely that there will be at least two red-clad drivers on the podium rather than those in orange, and this could be a considerable advantage. McLaren, with Oscar Piastri's limited experience and an inconsistent Lando Norris, alongside Red Bull, with a declining Sergio Perez, fall short in this respect compared to Ferrari's driver lineup.
At the Interlagos circuit, it is very likely we will see both McLaren cars equipped with the latest aerodynamic updates, not just Lando Norris’s MCL38, in an attempt to respond to Ferrari’s strong challenge in the last two rounds. The Brazilian track will conclude the three-race streak that began in in the United States and it is quite comprehensive as it features slow sections, as well as long and high-speed banked curves, along with weather that remains unpredictable, especially for Sunday's race, as explained by F1 experts Rosario Giuliana and Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen left Mexico with few positive aspects, except for the minimal points lost by the Dutchman to Lando Norris. However, the RB20 still has a lot of technical ground to make up compared to Ferrari and McLaren, even after the developments introduced at the Circuit of the Americas. These have improved the McLaren car in terms of front-to-rear connection but have not significantly expanded the operating window. This is why we now constantly see Max Verstappen racing defensively, resorting to even unsportsmanlike maneuvers to disrupt his rival’s race, in a way favoring Ferrari, a clear ally of the three-time world champion. For their part, Maranello knows they still have a chance in Brazil to extend the SF-24's best technical moment of the season, with only Qatar's layout as a concern. No updates are expected for Ferrari in Brazil, as the team from Maranello will continue to work on extracting the maximum from the SF-24 in another weekend that will take place based on the Sprint format.
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