Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Fiorano, 2024

Ferrari will ‘see where we are compared to our rivals’ before scheduling upgrades

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In the round-up: Ferrari will decide their upgrades schedule after seeing where they are relative to their rivals at the start of the season.

In brief

Ferrari to observe rivals before deciding upgrades

Ferrari’s technical director of chassis and aerodynamics, Enrico Cardile, says the team will wait to see their relative performance to their rivals before deciding on their upgrade path for the team’s new SF-24.

Speaking to media including RaceFans after the launch of the team’s 2024 car, Cardile said Ferrari would react to their rivals in the opening rounds.

“The only thing I can say is that the car in the wind tunnel already progressed and evolved compared to the one presented,” he said. “Then we will decide when it will be better to bring the first updates on-track.

“The first step is to see where we are compared to our competitors. The work in the wind tunnel is progressing, the car is evolving, and putting together the two staff we will decide where to bring the first updates.”

Mercedes unveil Pin’s F1 Academy livery

Doriane Pin’s F1 Academy livery, 2024
Mercedes have revealed the team livery that Doriane Pin, their supported driver, will run in the F1 Academy series this season with Prema.

The 20-year-old, who raced for Prema in the LMP2 class in last year’s World Endurance Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours, will compete in the second season of the all-women racing series this year with the support of Mercedes.

“The season ahead is a great opportunity to develop my career and skills in single seaters,” Pin said. “I can’t wait to go racing, discover new tracks and work hard with my team to achieve our goals together.”

Taponen closes out FRMEC season with win

Ferrari junior driver Tuukka Taponen closed out the Formula Regional Middle East Championship season with victory in the final race of the series.

Having clinched the title after Saturday’s first race, Taponen took his fifth win from 15 races in the final race at Dubai ahead of Brando Badoer and Theophile Nael. Championship runner-up Taylor Barnard won the second of the weekend’s three races to cement his position.

Bilinski takes FROC title as Sceats wins NZ GP

Roman Bilinski claimed the Formula Regional Oceania Championship title with a race to space at the Highlands circuit, but it was Liam Sceats who won the season-ending New Zealand Grand Prix.

Bilinski took the title with six victories from the 15 races, clinching the title with third place in the second race of the weekend, won by Bryce Aron. In the final race of the championship – the 27-lap New Zealand Grand Prix – championship runner-up Sceats won ahead of Callum Hedge, with Michael Shin third and Bilinski in fifth.

Slater wins UAE F4 title

Freddie Slater was crowned UAE Formula 4 champion in the final race of the championship despite finishing behind rival and Mumbai Falcons team mate Kean Nakamura-Berta.

Slater, who dominated last year’s Ginetta Junior championship, finished third behind Nakamura-Berta in the final race of the season in Dubai as Rashid Al Dhaheri claimed victory.

Slater will be racing in the Euro4 and Italian F4 series this season.

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Comment of the day

This weekend’s Caption Competition winner is EffWunFan!:

As Daniel stood up, he realised they had put his name on Tsunoda’s race overalls…
EffWunFan

Thanks to everyone who came up with caption ideas this week and a special mention to hunocsi, Urvaksh and Rom who all came up with particularly good captions.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Phildick, Looseasagoose and Reginald!

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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10 comments on “Ferrari will ‘see where we are compared to our rivals’ before scheduling upgrades”

  1. Well, good luck to the Ferrari chaps.

    Perhaps they’re closer to Red Bull before starting to doing their updates.

    Be noted that Japan is the deadline, because Red Bull will add the complete “zeropod” package of theirs.

    Good luck to everyone else too!

  2. Sign up for this forum never works properly
    19th February 2024, 2:55

    Translation of Ferrari :

    We are waiting to see what other teams have done before we decide what bits to try and copy.

    Reply moderated
    1. “We are checking…”

  3. That BBC archive video is “special”. The way the driver speaks to her, the way he speaks about the risks. Very entertaining.

  4. Nice livery ranking with which I largely agree & I like the little taunt towards VF-21.

  5. Tuukka Taponen was absolutely dominant in the Middle East FR. It’ll be very interesting to see if he continues to be well ahead when Formula Regional starts in Europe later, or if the likes of Ugo Ugochukwu, James Wharton and Rafael Camara can compete l with him. Last year in F4 UAE Wharton and Taponen were very competitive, only to fall backwards in the European series.

    1. He sure was, for context Tuukka collected 255 out of 375 points available.
      Current AMG star pupil Kimi Antonelli scored 192 on his 2023 title win.

  6. Somewhat overshadowed by Pin’s entry into F1 academy. Juju Noda is taking a “small step” from Euroformula Open to Super Formula.
    Leaving the family team to join up with Honda TGM team.
    I know she was testing cars at 9 yo, racing Danish F4 at 14 y.o. and won.
    Short excursion to US F4 fastest at Road Atlanta . A “loud forthright” disagreement about setup
    followed and back home without racing.
    W series was a disaster so off to a not terribly successful Euroformula.
    At least she’s having a go at real racing. She must have just turned 18 or wouldn’t be able to get licence and race in that series. Think she was about 2 secs off pace in Dec test, but at least she and the team will know by seasons end, if she has any hope of making it.

  7. The other teams are developing their car as fast as possible. Ferrari is waiting….

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