Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur is optimistic that the team can look ahead to a “good sequence of tracks” past the summer break which will suit its 2024 Formula 1 car.
The marque began the season as Red Bull’s closest challenger with a revamped SF-24 car which inspired it to two wins and nine podiums in the opening eight rounds.
However, a seismic upgrade package in Barcelona last month triggered increased bouncing at high speed which has cost Ferrari up to “three months” in development.
Ferrari has attained two podiums in the past six races to drop behind McLaren in the standings, while a resurgent Mercedes has also displaced it in the pecking order.
But having accelerated a revised floor in Budapest that tempered the bouncing issue, Vasseur has reiterated that Ferrari is “pushing like hell” to eradicate the problem.
Asked whether Ferrari is planning to bring parts once the season restarts to solve the hitch, Vasseur said: “To fix the bouncing is a step in performance. Yes, for sure.
“We are pushing like hell to bring something and we will do it as soon as possible.”
Ferrari succeeded in damage limitation at Spa-Francorchamps as Charles Leclerc, who started in pole position, claimed a podium when George Russell was excluded.
Vasseur has cautioned that Ferrari could be on the back foot once again at Zandvoort, but he is hopeful that the circuits to come will be more favourable to the SF-24.
“We have a good sequence of tracks for us with Monza, Baku, Singapore,” he continued. “These are good tracks for the characteristics of the car.
“The most important is to score points and it was the target coming to Spa. To not lose points on McLaren and Red Bull and we did it.
“And it will be the same target in Zandvoort because I’m convinced that the next three or four races after these two will be much better for us.”
Vasseur has acknowledged that Mercedes’ drastic turnaround to claim a 1-2 on the track in Belgium demonstrates how minute the margins now are at the sharp end.
“I would say that today it’s a very good example for everybody because that Mercedes was very struggling on Friday,” he highlighted.
“And when we say struggling it’s that they were probably at the back of the pack but for two-tenths.
“As soon as you fix something or you do a small step, you can recover from P7, P8 to P1, P2. Today is the best day for them.
“We are pushing on the fact that we have to pay attention to every single detail.
“It’s not two years ago when you were doing P4, P7 that you were finishing 60 seconds behind Max Verstappen.
“Last week in Budapest we finished in the same position as one year ago, but we are not anymore at 65 seconds, we are at 20.
“Now we really need to keep everything under control, to not overreact, to pay attention to details and I’m quite positive.”
The Frenchman has conceded that Ferrari’s decision to compromise some rounds to conduct experiments tailored towards the long-term was a mistake in hindsight.
“I think the most difficult, probably, in this championship is not to do 1-2 when you have the best car, it’s to score good points when you are not,” he explained.
“And it’s where we failed also, as a team, in the UK, Spain, Canada.
“This part of the season, we struggled a little bit more, and sometimes we overreacted as a team, and we lost too many points at this stage.
“But I think we are back today, and we are trying the best that we had on Friday, to finish before P7, to score more points than Red Bull, and three or four points less than McLaren.
“It’s a good result for us. Before this race last year, we were 339 points behind Red Bull. This year, we were 67.”
