Four moments that cost Ferrari the 2024 constructors' title

Just like McLaren, the team that ultimately emerged victorious in the battle for the world championship, Ferrari has also come a long way over the past 18 months. However, despite a strong comeback, the Italian team narrowly missed out on winning the 2024 constructors' title, maintaining its chances until the very end.

Last year, the Scuderia was the only team to trip up Red Bull and prevent it from winning all the Grands Prix with Carlos Sainz's victory in Singapore. But the huge gap between its car's performance in qualifying and the race, as well as its tire overheating problem, has left the team uncertain about its position in 2024.

So it was a pleasant surprise when Ferrari appeared in the race from the start of the season, although still behind Red Bull in terms of pace. However, the Scuderia did not know that the real threat would not come from the reigning champions but from McLaren, who had started the season behind before changing the situation from the Miami Grand Prix.

The papaya orange team quickly overtook Ferrari in the standings, and although the Scuderia was able to get back in the saddle at the end of the year, it was unable to close the gap that four key moments at the start of the season had widened.

GP du Canada : double abandon

Ferrari suffered its first double retirement in two years during a disastrous weekend in Canada. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were not even able to reach the last part of qualifying, eliminated in Q2 by the VCARB and a Williams, the two drivers starting from 11th and 12th place respectively.

Things got worse on Sunday. Leclerc had to retire due to an electronic problem with his power unit while Sainz made a mistake on a wet track, catching Alexander Albon at the same time. A club blow to the head of the Prancing Horse after his brilliant double in Monaco. The team left Montreal without any points scored while Max Verstappen won the Grand Prix just ahead of Lando Norris.

Spanish GP: the wrong direction

After the disaster at the Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari wanted above all to bounce back during the Barcelona-Spielberg-Silverstone triplet, in particular via the introduction of a new floor in Spain. However, this proved counterproductive, creating bounce in high-speed corners. This poisonous development not only cost the Scuderia performance, but also disrupted its development program, since Ferrari had to first find the cause of the problem before resolving it.

She was thus forced to carry out comparative tests at Silverstone by reinstalling the old floor on her car, thus sacrificing preparation time. It gave up a lot of ground to a McLaren team which was firing on all cylinders. Lando Norris' retirement in Austria, following his collision with Max Verstappen, saved Ferrari. Leclerc's first podium in five races in Belgium made it clear that the Italian team was gradually managing to get back into the race. A finding confirmed by the positive results of the following tests.

Azerbaijan GP: Sainz crash in the last lap

After an emotional victory for Leclerc in front of the fans at Monza, Azerbaijan showed that although Ferrari had not completely solved its problems in the fast corners, they were still the team to beat on circuits where traction and top speed were the key words. Nevertheless, after starting in the lead, Leclerc ceded victory to an impeccable and opportunistic Oscar Piastri.

Behind, Sainz was battling with Sergio Pérez for the final step of the podium until a late collision sent both cars into the wall. These 15 points from third place would have been welcome, knowing that the accident allowed Norris to take back four additional points.

Singapore: the fallen favorites

The scene of Ferrari's only victory in 2023, the Singapore track, characterized by its traction requirements and the absence of fast turns, seemed to favor the SF-24. But while the Scuderia entered the weekend with a good chance of victory, those hopes evaporated after a disappointing qualifying session in which Sainz crashed in Q3 and Leclerc's final time was erased for violation of runway limits. Both drivers had to start from the fifth row.

On the narrow streets of Marina Bay, overtaking was almost impossible, however Leclerc and Sainz were both able to put in a strong race to limit the damage and finish fifth and seventh respectively, although well behind the race winner, Lando Norris .

Ultimately, these failures, as well as Sainz's accident in the deluge of São Paulo, ended up causing too much damage to Ferrari, despite its two victories and a double obtained at the end of the season. The Scuderia was also held back in Las Vegas by a surprisingly dominant Mercedes team, this round in Nevada being the only real opportunity which would have allowed it to hang up McLaren before the Losail event favorable to the MCL38s.

But the setbacks of Norris in Qatar and Piastri in Abu Dhabi made the home stretch of the 2024 title race much tighter than expected. It would have been enough for Sainz to find the fault on Norris and for Piastri to fail to score the point from 10th position for Ferrari to triumph.

However, all this means little to Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur, who has often said he hates “ifs” and “buts”. Beyond what it could have been, Ferrari's season is one that should still be remembered for its positive aspects, such as the home victory at Monza, the excellent last season of Leclerc and Sainz in as teammates and the fact that the team was able to turn things around after a developmental error mid-season.

“We are very happy with what we managed to do this year, the developments we made throughout the year and the way we reacted to difficulties, but we came so close to the title that we We are disappointed”said Vasseur after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“We had problems in Canada, then with the development presented in Spain, accidents in Singapore and Baku, but each time we came back stronger and that is a very good sign for the future.”