Carlos Sainz has teased that Ferrari has produced some innovative parts on the team’s 2024 Formula 1 car “that cannot be seen” on the surface but will add “greater performance”.
Despite clinching the sole non-Red Bull win last season in Singapore through Sainz, the Italian marque slipped to third in the championship, 454 points behind Red Bull.
Ferrari has committed to a “revamped” concept with its 2024 challenger, the SF-24, as it bids to recover to a position of challenging for regular victories this term.
But while Sainz admits that Ferrari’s latest creation has derived inspiration from its rivals, he has revealed that the team has crafted some unique solutions of its own.
“In this car there are also elements inspired by Mercedes, Red Bull and Aston Martin. As always happens in F1, we pick with tweezers here and there what works. I think it’s a very nice car, very different from the 2023 one,” Sainz told the Spanish outlet DAZN.
“Ferrari’s engineers have innovated, there are things on the car that cannot be seen and which are purely Ferrari ideas which I am sure will give us greater performance.”
Sainz’s comments have been echoed by Ferrari Technical Director Enrico Cardile, who has clarified that the team’s development direction placed a big onus on creating a more benign car versus its predecessor.
“We took definitely our own direction; we did during last year a big job to understand what at the end of the day driveability meant in terms of shaping the aero map, so the direction is our own,” Cardile told selected media including Motorsport Week.
“I’m not able to say where Red Bull in terms of target setting went or is going in the future. Once they find the target we obviously scan several options and we find on the current one that the best way to achieve our own targets.”
Sainz also highlighted how several teams have exposed carbon on their machines for this season to achieve incremental gains when it comes to saving weight on paint.
Ferrari, however, has appeared to confirm the reports earlier in the winter that it has hit the minimum weight limit with a revised design that exhibits minimal uncovered carbon.
“Everyone is trying to lighten the weight as much as possible as demonstrated by the fact that the colours on the bodywork are used sparingly,” the Spanish driver added.
Both Sainz and Charles Leclerc had the chance to shakedown the SF-24 at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track ahead of pre-season testing beginning in Bahrain on February 21.
