Ferrari Chief Takes Bold Stance On 2024 Championship After Team Makes '300%' Improvement

Saajan Jogia | Aug 9, 2024

Fred Vasseur / Ferrari Press Image

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has revealed that four different teams, namely Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari are in contention for the championship this season. He admitted that all teams had caught up to Red Bull's dominating pace, including Ferrari which made a 300% improvement over last year.

Formula 1 has been witnessing intense racing at the front after almost two years of the ground effect era, courtesy of the three teams that caught up with Red Bull's title contender RB20.

While Max Verstappen won the first four of the five Grands Prix of the season, what followed later was a display of Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes' might, which significantly impacted Red Bull's points collection, bringing it close enough to be within range of its rivals before the summer break. With ten races to go, Vasseur feels the championship is open.

McLaren's Lando Norris finds himself 78 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers' Standings, a daunting gap to close, especially if Verstappen gets back to winning races. However, McLaren trails Red Bull by a more manageable 42 points in the Constructors' Championship. If the Papaya team continues to secure podium finishes and Sergio Perez's performance slump persists, McLaren could realistically close the gap and challenge Red Bull for the top spot.

Ferrari was on top form in the initial races of the season, until performance upgrades hampered the car's balance, causing old issues like bouncing to resurface. Despite the hiccup, Vasseur is happy that the team made considerable progress, scoring 117 points this season thus far, compared to the same time last year. Speaking on the close racing witnessed, Vasseur told the media:

“I think it's true that we had the first part of the season until China where Red Bull was flying.

"Then we had a good sequence for us with two or three wins, and then it was McLaren, and now it's Mercedes.”

Talking about the top championship contenders and the Ferrari's progress so far, the team boss added:

"I think that the four teams did a similar job.

“It's not quite often that after 12 or 13 races you can have four teams in position to win the championship.

“I’m not a big fan of statistics, we scored something like 60 per cent more points than one year ago after 12 races or something like this.

"We reduced the gap by 300 per cent on Red Bull.”