The Ferrari SF-24 was launched in entrance of a small viewers of company right this moment whereas the remainder of the world watched on-line. It’s the seventieth automobile the corporate constructed to take part within the System 1 World Championship.
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Attending the presentation on the Fiorano monitor had been President John Elkann, CEO Benedetto Vigna and Vice-President Piero Ferrari, together with representatives of the companions, in addition to staff members, beginning with Workforce Principal Fred Vasseur and the drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The busiest season ever, with no fewer than 24 races, will get underway subsequent week in Bahrain with the one pre-season three-day check session, adopted by the primary grand prix on the similar venue on Saturday, 2 March.
Idea. The SF-24 is the third automobile of the brand new System 1 floor impact era, but it surely breaks with the custom of the previous two years, beginning with the look of it. The design group, led by Enrico Cardile, aimed to present Charles and Carlos a automobile that’s simple to drive and that reacts predictably, with, as a place to begin, the constructive feeling the drivers had within the cockpit over the ultimate few races of final season. The objective is to permit them to take advantage of the ability unit’s potential, mixed with their undoubted talent behind the wheel.
Colors and particulars. At first look, the automobile is aesthetically very totally different from its predecessors, and this additionally goes for the livery. Following a constructive reception in Las Vegas final November, white makes its return along with yellow – all the time Ferrari’s second color –an evident hyperlink with Modena but additionally a nod to the Maranello marque’s different foremost racing exercise aside from System 1, specifically the World Endurance Championship. As was the case final 12 months, the SF-24 and the WEC 499P share the identical shade of purple, once more this 12 months with a matt end on the System 1 automobile. It’s not the primary time {that a} Ferrari System 1 automobile has featured yellow, though the yellow longitudinal stripes haven’t been seen since 1968, whereas this 12 months, it’s paired with white for the primary time. There’s, due to this fact, much less black on the automobile than in earlier years, now restricted to the ground, the bargeboards, a part of the halo and different small areas. The wheels are purple with a double white and yellow stripe; these colors additionally characteristic the race numbers -16 and 55, which proceed to make use of the Maranello marque’s official font, Ferrari Sans, this time in italics.
First kilometres. The SF-24 will run on monitor for the primary time for filming, photographic, advertising and marketing and communications functions. Nonetheless, these first few kilometres give the staff an opportunity to hold out a shakedown and permit the drivers to get an preliminary concept of how the automobile behaves on monitor, having assessed it on the simulator in current weeks.
Fred Vasseur, Workforce Principal:
Presenting a brand new automobile to the world for the primary time is all the time very thrilling for the drivers and me; even when we’re all already occupied with the second, we are going to face to face with our rivals on the monitor. This 12 months, we should begin the place we left off on the finish of final season once we had been constant entrance runners to enhance consistently in all areas. The longest-ever System 1 season awaits us. Charles, Carlos and I agree we have to be extra medical and efficient in managing the races, making daring selections to get the absolute best consequence at each Grand Prix. It’s usually mentioned that your followers can provide you additional gear, which might be true in a carefully contested championship. We’re proud to know we are able to rely on our “tifosi” from all over the world.
Charles Leclerc, Driver #16:
I just like the automobile’s look, together with the white and yellow components on the bodywork. However after all, what actually pursuits me is the way it will carry out on monitor, as that’s all that issues. The SF-24 must be much less delicate and extra accessible to drive; that’s what you should do effectively for us drivers. I count on the automobile to be a step ahead in a number of areas, and from the impression I shaped within the simulator, I believe we’re the place we need to be. This season, the intention is to be entrance runners on a regular basis, and I like to present our followers a lot to cheer about by dedicating race wins to them.
Carlos Sainz, driver #55:
Once I noticed the SF-24 for the primary time, I couldn’t wait to leap in and hearth it up. I’m trying ahead to driving it on monitor to see if it correlates with the sensation I had from the simulator, which is the step ahead all of us need. The intention is to have a extra driveable automobile and, due to this fact, be capable to run at a constant race tempo, as these are the fundamental necessities to struggle for wins. We drivers have performed our easiest to present the engineers exact suggestions, and I’m positive the workforce in Maranello could have listened to our wants. We need to share with the followers one thing to cheer about, as they had been so supportive final 12 months, even when issues weren’t going our approach.
Enrico Cardile, Technical Director Chassis:
With the SF-24, we wished to create a completely new platform. Each space of the automobile has been redesigned, even when our place to begin was the event route we adopted final 12 months, which noticed us leap ahead by way of competitiveness within the last a part of the season. Now we have taken on board what the drivers informed us and turned these concepts into engineering actuality to present them a automobile that’s simpler to drive and, due to this fact, simpler to get probably the most out of and push it to its limits. We didn’t set ourselves any design constraints apart from delivering a robust and trustworthy racing automobile that would reproduce on the race monitor what we had seen within the wind tunnel.
Enrico Gualtieri, Technical Director Energy Unit:
Although the rules freeze energy unit improvement, it doesn’t imply that 2024 doesn’t current some thrilling challenges. We might be tackling extra races than in some other 12 months of the championship, and that may require us to react extra rapidly, with fewer hours accessible on the check mattress. To arrange for this, we have now reviewed all of the processes regarding the engine – preparation, signing-off and administration – to maximise efficiency. Moreover, we have now labored very carefully with our companions to optimise additional procedures regarding reliability: for instance, on the monitor, due to the common monitoring of the fluids within the automobile, Shell can consistently verify on the state of well being of the ability unit.