A new season, a different race, and the same guy! After breaking Max Verstappen‘s winning streak in Singapore, Carlos Sainz has repeated the feat in Australia. The Spaniard was faultless throughout the race and brought home an easy win with his teammate Charles Leclerc right behind him. Now, building on the momentum, Scuderia Ferrari is planning to fast-track their developmental timeline and introduce the rumored upgrades in Japan instead of Imola.

Rumors were swirling around the paddock about Ferrari introducing a host of upgrades leading up to Imola, which would have featured a completely different SF-24. The upgrades were in plans for Ferrari‘s second phase after the SF-24 impressed in the initial phase with appropriate tire degradation, solving the Italian team’s most persistent problem. Building on this, Ferrari was rumored to bring “aggressive” upgrades to Imola, with minute upgrades being planned from the Australian GP onwards. However, those plans have now changed according to various media outlets.

After the brilliant 1-2 in the Australian GP, there is hope in the Italian team, and building on the momentum, the team back in Maranello is now instructed to prepare the aforementioned “aggressive” upgrades for Suzuka instead of Imola.

As rumored earlier, the upgrades will include a new floor design, sidepods, and even bodywork. In the two-week break leading up to the 2024 Japanese GP, the team back in Maranello will prepare the new and upgraded SF-24. A fast-tracked timeline was always a possibility, and now the Italian team is taking that leap of faith.

It will be interesting to see if Ferrari can make a regular habit of beating the Red Bull world champion. We would not mind witnessing an exciting season where the two F1 powerhouses lock horns. However, no team in F1 stands still and the near-perfect machine that Adrian Newey has created will undergo changes and become even better.

Max Verstappen gives a concerning update after his Australian GP setback

Verstappen was already suffering from damage after the FP1 incident. His RB20 took such extensive damage that he had to wait for an additional 25 minutes after the second practice session began. Despite that, he secured pole position but heading to the race, his power unit was under severe stress and we saw it gave out just three laps into the race.

However, even before he suffered the race setback, Verstappen gave an intimidating update about his car and its future.

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Verstappen revealed how the car’s still not perfect, yet. The Dutchman said the RB20 still needs some fine-tuning which will be taken care of over the coming weeks. Verstappen said, “I think Ferrari is quick but I think from our side, there are also a few more things that we can fine-tune. So nothing crazy, nothing worrying, I think we just need to fine-tune a little bit the car.”

So even if the RB20 conked out of the race in Australia, it will look like a blip on Red Bull and Verstappen’s record if they go on to maintain the same level of output they did in 2023 with 21 races to go. Let’s wait and see if the Ferrari upgrades pack a punch.

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