Martin Brundle tells £3bn F1 team to ‘get back on track’ after failed upgrade

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Ferrari has endured a tough triple-header compared to their rivals with only one win in the last five races.

It is a far cry from their form earlier in the year when it looked like they were going to be Red Bull’s main challengers on track, with Carlos Sainz winning the Australian Grand Prix with a convincing margin.

Since Charles Leclerc’s win at Monaco they have scored one podium at the Austrian GP with Sainz, which was largely inherited due to the collision between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

Things got worse at Silverstone when Ferrari customer team Haas managed to out-qualify them with Nico Hulkenberg, while Leclerc finished outside of the points in a distant 15th due to poor tyre strategy.

Martin Brundle believes the second half of the year will deliver more of the same when speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, which is why Ferrari must improve its fortunes or risk losing out big time.

Martin Brundle expects ‘epic’ second half 2024 F1 season

Much of what the teams develop for this year’s car will feed into next year, which is why it is important for teams that have problems to get on top of them as quickly as possible.

Mercedes has shown how fundamental issues can spiral having completely switched car concept for the third year in the current regulation set, while Ferrari has been more inconsistent with the understanding of its platform.

Brundle expects their next group of updates will be important in determining the outcome of their season, as they could be left playing catch up to everyone else.

“What we’re heading for here is an epic end-of-season and I think 2025 should be even better because Ferrari needs to get back on track,” said Brundle.

“They messed up their latest upgrades that they had to backtrack on for the weekend, but for me the fastest car out there at the minute is McLaren. Red Bull is struggling but they have a good combination with Max at the wheel, and Mercedes has more upgrades to come.

What has happened to Ferrari since the first half of the season?

The team which is worth £3 billion, according to Forbes, introduced an upgrade that was fast-tracked specifically for the Spanish GP to bring performance, but it backfired when it failed to address the main drivability problem with the SF-24.

Sainz and Charles Leclerc have complained about bouncing in high-speed corners, particularly when they put their cars into qualifying trim.

Whereas their competition has found a way to minimise or eliminate the bouncing altogether, Ferrari has struggled to find that secret and is often playing with extreme set ups in a bid to counter it.

A look at the GPS data at Silverstone shows Sainz lifting the throttle through the high-speed right-hander of Corpse compared to polesitter Russell who is full throttle, while they needed to lift several meters earlier exiting the Becketts/Chapel section.

Coupled with the formidable upgrades from their competitors and it appears Ferrari has taken a significant step back, something it must work hard to recuperate into the summer break.