Carlos Sainz ‘hopeful’ Ferrari made three important changes with 2024 F1 car

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Ferrari star Carlos Sainz has now explained how the SF-24 should be a ‘better racing car’ than the Maranello team’s machine for the 2023 F1 season following its launch.

The Scuderia took the covers off the SF-24 at their factory in Emilia-Romagna this Tuesday. It is the final Ferrari that Sainz will drive, for now, in Formula 1 following the team’s decision to sign Lewis Hamilton for 2025. The Mercedes ace will race beside Charles Leclerc next year.

Sainz has raced for Ferrari since the 2021 Formula 1 season after leaving McLaren to replace Sebastian Vettel. He has since won two Grand Prix across 66 entries, taken pole position five times and stood on the podium 16 times. But the 29-year-old now enters his last year in red.

Sainz enters his final year with Ferrari ahead of Hamilton’s arrival

Ferrari have decided to replace Sainz following his lowest finish in the drivers’ championship with the team last season. The Spaniard could only secure seventh in the standings, despite being the only non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix. He had sealed fifth in 2021 and 2022.

Leclerc also dropped from second place in 2022 to fifth in 2023 with 102 fewer points. Sainz posted just 46 fewer points last year than the 246 he managed in 2022. Their results totalled to claim Ferrari third place in the constructors’ championship, three points shy of Mercedes.

Sainz hopes the SF-24 has three important changes from the SF-23

Sainz hopes Ferrari have a stronger season during his final year as Leclerc’s teammate after unveiling the SF-24. The Madrid native claims the Scuderia’s new car marks an improvement on the SF-23 in which he drove a top, defensive drive to win the Singapore GP in September.

He held off Mercedes star George Russell and Lando Norris of McLaren to triumph at Marina Bay. But Sainz had to manage his pace throughout the Singapore GP to nurse his Pirelli tyres. And managing Pirelli’s rubber is one area Sainz hopes Ferrari have improved with the SF-24.

“We want a car that is easier to drive and that gives us fewer problems,” he said, via quotes by Motorsport-Total. “It should handle the tyres better, and generally be a better racing car. Hopefully, that will mean better results.”

Ferrari struggled with tyre degradation problems during most of the 2023 Formula 1 season. The British GP was particularly frustrating with Leclerc and Sainz falling back from fourth and fifth on the grid to finish in ninth and tenth. Ferrari will hope to avoid any repeats over 2024.