Frederic Vasseur now wants Ferrari to learn from one of Red Bull’s ‘biggest trump cards’

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Ferrari introduced a big upgrade package to its Formula 1 car in Spain, but since then it has suffered issues that it previously thought it got rid of in the past.

The return of the bouncing phenomenon overshadowed what was meant to be a step forward for the team, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz found the SF-24 a handful to drive.

Ferrari fast-tracked the upgrades to their car in a bid to keep pace with their rivals McLaren, Red Bull and recently Mercedes. While they did add performance to the car, the word from Marinello is that Ferrari added too much downforce and exaggerated a long-standing problem with their car.

While they work to understand where they went wrong, speaking to AMuS Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believes the team must think outside of the box if they want to get closer to their rivals on race weekends.

Frederic Vasseur wants Ferrari to take more risks

Even though an F1 team largely produces upgrades to add more performance, Vasseur wants to get Ferrari into a place where they can afford to take more risks on car setup.

At the moment they are constrained by the limitations of their current car on cooling and ride heights, areas where Red Bull can exploit to achieve better and more consistent speed.

Vasseur believes Ferrari must work to produce a car that can extract extra tenths, particularly as the close gaps can often see drivers starting below where they should during qualifying.

“That means daring to step out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s the amount of fuel you need for the race, the weight, the cooling, or the car’s setup. In my opinion, that was one of Red Bull’s biggest trump cards,” said Vasseur.

Ferrari take step back to understand current upgrades

Ferrari went into the season with the aim of improving the drivability of their car, which was largely what kept it from catching up to Red Bull last year.

At the beginning of the season it was noticeable with the car more stable on the straights, but it appears the bouncing has returned as it has disrupted the balanced aero platform it had achieved.

Much of the upgrades were done to the bodywork including the sidepods, diffuser and floor, but now they must work backwards to identify where the main issues are and correct them before the summer break.

As rivals McLaren and Mercedes intend to bring more upgrades, it will be imperative for Ferrari to get on top of these issues if they want to stay second in the Constructors’ Championship in the second half fo the season.