Ferrari has admitted that it has to “open our eyes a bit” and endeavour to “broaden the scope” of its 2024 Formula 1 to ensure that it is competitive across all circuits.
The Italian marque began the latest campaign on an encouraging note as its revamped SF-24 car delivered nine podiums and two victories in the opening eight races.
However, Ferrari’s positive start was derailed in Canada as struggles to generate temperature in the rubber led to both cars exiting in Q2 and then a double retirement.
Ferrari Senior Performance Engineer Jock Clear conceded the slump came as a surprise until it drew comparisons to its struggles in China with similar temperatures.
“Montreal was tough. We did not go there suspecting that we would have any issues and we were really scratching our heads at times,” he said last weekend in Spain.
“We thought we were quite competitive on Friday, we looked quite competitive on Inters and when it dried up for qualifying, we really did not have any performance.
“The underlying performance was not where we thought it should be.
“If we review that afterwards and then you look back at China and you start to think, as I was saying with the point earlier, you start to think, OK, there is a bit of a picture here.
“We did not completely deconstruct China and understand it fully, but now you add that to Canada and you think, OK, when the track is moist or a little bit damp and cold, we are relatively worse off than others. And of course, it is that relatively worse off than others that makes all the difference.
“Again, in our simulations, we do not have the ability to look at a damp track. You can only compare yourself to others.
“So in Canada, I think Charles failed to get into Q3 by five-hundredths of a second or whatever. Those five-hundredths of a second are a little bit of a mistake here.
“You get into Q3, the track has dried up a little bit more or is a little bit warmer and suddenly maybe you can qualify P4 and you think, ‘oh, we are fine’.
“But it is those really fine margins that as soon as the track is cold, we just did not have the performance we would normally expect to have going into Q3.”
Ferrari’s reaction to its sobering weekend in Canada was to fast-track a sizeable update package to Barcelona, but the team once again lagged behind its main rivals.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz locked out the third row and couldn’t make up ground in the race with one Red Bull, one McLaren and both Mercedes drivers ahead.
The Maranello-based squad has cured its degradation issues at the expense of troubles over one lap and Clear has professed the team hasn’t nailed the compromise.
Asked whether it was too simplistic to draw a link between the two, Clear responded: “No, probably not. I mean, I can let you draw that conclusion.
“I think that is always the conundrum. Everything in F1 is a compromise.
“Obviously, we would say, yeah, it looks like Red Bull have got a better compromise than everybody because at most races for the last two years, they have been dominant.
“That dominance is starting now to narrow and you have seen that at some circuits where they are not completely comfortable, actually they can be beaten and beaten on merit.
“It is not just a bit of luck. They are actually getting beaten on merit.
“So that gives you an idea that even the guys who got it right a year ago, you start to shift the balance a little bit and you start to narrow your focus or whatever their development is doing and suddenly you start to not have the ideal compromise.
“We have not got the ideal compromise because if we are going to cold circuits at the moment, we have to recognise that we are not as strong as we should be.
“So we need to open our eyes a bit and maybe broaden the scope of the car.”
