The Ferrari SF-24 was launched in front of a small audience of guests today, while the rest of the world watched online. It is the 70th car the company has built to take part in the Formula 1 World Championship. Attending the presentation at the Fiorano track were President John Elkann, CEO Benedetto Vigna and Vice-President Piero Ferrari, along with representatives of the partners, as well as team members, starting with Team Principal Fred Vasseur and the drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The busiest season ever, with no fewer than 24 races, gets underway next week in Bahrain with the only pre-season three-day test session, followed by the first grand prix at the same venue, on Saturday 2 March.
The SF-24 is the third car of the new Formula 1 ground effect generation, but it breaks with the tradition of the past two years, starting with the look of it. The design group, led by Enrico Cardile, aimed to give Charles and Carlos a car that is easy to drive and that reacts predictably, with as a starting point, the positive feeling the drivers had in the cockpit over the final few races of last season. The goal is to allow them to make the most of the power unit’s potential, combined with their undoubted skill behind the wheel.
The SF-24 is the third car of the new Formula 1 ground effect generation, but it breaks with the tradition of the past two years, starting with the look of it. The design group, led by Enrico Cardile, aimed to give Charles and Carlos a car that is easy to drive and that reacts predictably, with as a starting point, the positive feeling the drivers had in the cockpit over the final few races of last season. The goal is to allow them to make the most of the power unit’s potential, combined with their undoubted skill behind the wheel.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (air whooshing)
00:02 - In terms of challenges,
00:15 the 2024 for the Power Unit Engineers are mainly two.
00:20 The very first one is obviously the season
00:24 that is about to start.
00:26 And these promise to be the most challenging
00:29 and longest as ever.
00:32 At the end, these will require for sure
00:35 the maximum level of attention,
00:37 the maximum focus on what we are preparing,
00:41 what we are managing,
00:42 and how the Power Unit will be deployed at the track.
00:46 The dyno bench hours will be further reduced by regulation,
00:51 and the timing of the season
00:53 is certainly not giving us a huge time for the reaction
00:57 in case of any issues or open point.
00:59 On the second point,
01:03 there is also another important challenge
01:06 that we are embracing in 2024.
01:08 That is the new preparation for the 2026 new Power Unit,
01:12 which is certainly entering
01:14 in its most important stage of development.
01:18 So it will be also important on that respect
01:21 to keep an increasing focus
01:24 in order to be sure that all the plan
01:26 and the planning are going as per expectations.
01:30 As usual over the winter,
01:37 and actually even before the winter,
01:40 the very first focus that we put
01:43 into the new season preparation
01:44 is about the open points from the previous season.
01:48 So actually we started actually since mid of last year
01:53 to work on every open point that we faced in 2023
01:58 in order to be ready for the new incoming season
02:03 in terms of reliability, open points or issues,
02:07 in terms of preparation,
02:09 in terms of optimization of our usage of the Power Unit.
02:13 Secondly, last season showed us like never before
02:17 the importance of details
02:19 in the management of our product.
02:21 So the second point of attention for us
02:24 in preparation of the next season
02:26 was really to review all the process
02:28 related to the Power Unit,
02:30 starting from design that is anyway frozen
02:33 in terms of performance,
02:35 but also going into the preparation,
02:37 sign off, assembly procedures,
02:40 till obviously the management on the product
02:42 in a track environment.
02:43 And this is the second important topic
02:47 on which we focused our attention in preparation of 2024.
02:52 (silence)
02:54 As a Power Unit group,
03:04 obviously the very first and the main target
03:08 is to deploy the maximum level of performance
03:12 of the Power Unit in each and every conditions
03:16 in which it will be used at the track.
03:18 So in order to maximize the potential of the project,
03:21 and this is really what we are aiming for.
03:24 Obviously with the same number of Power Unit
03:26 and increasing the number of races,
03:29 this is becoming more and more challenging.
03:32 And the effort that we have to deploy on that
03:36 is always very, very high
03:38 and higher and higher each season.
03:41 We do not often realize how extreme are these Power Units
03:46 and how important are the components of the Power Unit
03:51 in their usage, in their preparation,
03:55 and in their execution.
03:57 And it's not only a matter of the Power Unit engineers,
04:01 it's really a teamwork
04:03 which all the different department
04:05 that are contributing with their efforts and their work
04:08 in order to be prepared for the season.
04:11 So quality, supply chain, planning department,
04:14 everyone together with us is really working
04:17 for being prepared and for managing the usage
04:22 of the Power Unit at the track
04:24 in order just to maximize the potential of it.
04:26 The level of complexity of the Power Units today
04:36 is so high that for sure it's impossible
04:39 to say that we can be alone
04:42 in doing every part of the job.
04:44 And we can really count on valuable external collaboration,
04:49 suppliers and partners
04:52 in order to help us in doing the job.
04:55 And actually we are working with them,
04:58 with the most of them since a while.
05:00 Actually with some of them
05:02 since the introduction of the new regulation in 2014.
05:05 Some other join the team later on.
05:09 But it's true that we are all working
05:12 for being able to deploy the Power Unit performance
05:16 as per expectations.
05:17 And it's not only a matter of design,
05:20 it's a matter of the complete life cycle of the Power Unit.
05:24 For example, being able through data analysis,
05:28 through physical analysis,
05:30 to be in control of what the Power Unit is doing.
05:34 And sometimes also maybe with the fluid analysis,
05:37 for example with our partner Shell,
05:40 to be able to understand the level of health of the engine
05:44 through the sessions and through the whole season.
05:46 (silence)
05:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]