Charles, and indeed everyone in the paddock has the same question in mind: “I think we all want to see what the real picture is in an actual Grand Prix,” he said when meeting journalists in the Scuderia Ferrari hospitality. “We gathered plenty of information on our side and we believe we have done a good job, but we haven’t gone head to head with the others and I can’t wait to do that.”
A good baseline. The Monegasque comes to the first race off the back of a test that has left him far more aware of what to expect. “Last year, the car was so inconsistent in terms of performance that we didn’t know how to deal with it. This time however, we have identified the areas where we need to improve and those where we believe we are in particularly good shape. It means that, back in the factory, they are already working on the data to decide on the direction in which to develop the package. We can therefore say we are starting from a very different and much better baseline than last year.”
Goals. Charles is also confident that the team can continue the trend of improvements that began last season. “The direction we have taken in the build of the SF-24 was already established in the final part of the 2023 season, when, from Japan onwards, we managed to make a lot of progress in terms of driveability and consistent race performance. That’s why I expect that we will start from the same sort of order we saw then and I can count on starting from a level that means we can fight for the win more often and make the most of any opportunity.”