Red Bull’s domination in 2023 can simply not be understated. The team has won 21 out of the 22 races conducted last season, with an incredible win percentage of 95.45%. For his part, Max Verstappen won 19 of the 21 races that Red Bull won. No other team or driver combination, even during their absolute peak, came close to this level of power, even when the cost cap was not a thing, and the number of races was significantly less.

Naturally, the Adrian Newey-designed RB-19 got a lot of attention from other teams, especially the ones at the top like Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari. In fact, in a recent interview, Scuderia Ferrari’s CTO, Enrico Cardille went into detail about the upgrades that Red Bull made that gave them a significant edge.

RB-19’s brake calipers and radiator inlets gave Max Verstappen an edge

Enrico Cardille, Ferrari’s Chief Technical Officer, recently went into a lot of detail as to what stopped their own car from achieving the best results in the 2023 season. Naturally, the attention shifted to Red Bull, as you cannot have a conversation about designing a perfect F1 car without talking about the RB-19.

He believes that there are two crucial aspects that Ferrari had missed, that Red Bull had absolutely nailed the last year, that are worth looking into going forward into the 2024 season. Talking about Red Bull’s brake calipers, Cardille stated, “Red Bull introduced new technology this year that differs from what Mercedes and we (Ferrari) have been using for several years. It may be that these new calipers provide a weight advantage.”

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However, according to him, a bigger advantage for Max Verstappen and Red Bull was the fact that the other teams’ chassis was a little outdated. He commented, “The limitations are mainly with the chassis. The main difference between our car and that of Red Bull was the design of the sidepods. Ours were more voluminous than Red Bull’s.”

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However, with Ferrari having a lot of time on their hands, a better understanding of the cars, and having worked on the 2024 car from September this year, they have all the chances to pull out an amazing SF-24 that can help them rise back to the top again.

Ferrari’s plans for SF-24

Ferrari had a major breakthrough during the Dutch Grand Prix this year. They found out that thanks to slightly miscalibrated simulation tools, they were never able to fully understand what the car’s aerodynamic problems were before they toured the Netherlands this year.

“The experiments we conducted in the first training in Zandvoort gave us a better understanding of why the car behaves the way it does under certain conditions. Thereafter, we adjusted and refined all our simulation tools. From then on, we could better deal with the limitations because we knew where they came from and could better anticipate them.”

However, they were not able to use this knowledge this past season, due to chassis limitations, and little time left in the season as well. However, they have been working ardently on the 2024 car ever since, allowing them the luxury of hindsight, but for a brand new season.  “We will mainly benefit from these experiences next year because we completed the development of the 2023 car in Japan,” The Ferrari CTO stated.

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Bahrain is now only a few weeks away, and we will know for sure if the changes Ferrari made have brought in significant results that will allow them to fight for championships again. Is 2024 the year when Ferrari ends their 16-year drought? Who knows, with their strong driver lineup, they might very much surprise us all.