Eye-opening Ferrari pace gains with another high-profile exit on cards – F1 rumour

The Ferrari F1 pit wall in Singapore.

Ferrari are reportedly making serious pace gains with their F1 2024 challenger, though look set to lose former strategy chief Iñaki Rueda from their ranks.

The Scuderia are in need of a much-improved campaign in F1 2024, having seen their ambitions of title glory fall flat once more in the season just gone.

While Ferrari did claim a grand prix win via Carlos Sainz in Singapore, that merely served to deny Red Bull the undefeated season as they won a remarkable 21 out of 22, Max Verstappen and his team sealing a comfortable title double.

Ferrari seven-tenths up on SF-23 with new challenger

Red Bull called time on developing their dominant RB19 mid-season in order to switch focus to their next creation, the RB20, meaning teams are wary of just how much more performance Red Bull may unleash as they piece together their own expectations for the F1 2024 campaign ahead.

And as per Corriere dello Sport, Ferrari are doing their part in the bid to reach Red Bull’s level, with their new challenger said to be already roughly seven-tenths of a second up on what the SF-23 could achieve by the end of its service.

One-lap performance was not much of an issue for Ferrari, who claimed six pole positions during F1 2023, but transforming that into race pace against Red Bull was a common sticking point to address with their F1 2024 creation.

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Iñaki Rueda tipped to exit Ferrari F1 team

Work on their F1 2024 creation continues at Ferrari minus several key staff members, the likes of race director Laurent Mekies having departed during 2023 ahead of taking on the AlphaTauri team principal role, while former chief engineer David Sanchez has now linked-up with McLaren after completing his gardening leave.

And Corriere dello Sport report that another name set to leave the Ferrari F1 ranks is Iñaki Rueda, who headed the Ferrari strategy team from 2021-23.

Rueda was replaced in the role by Ravin Jain ahead of the 2023 campaign, Ferrari’s strategy team under Rueda having faced criticism on several occasions, though it is reported that he is now set to leave the team completely.

However, it is noted that he is on ‘excellent terms’ with Ferrari as a company and so may find himself with a future elsewhere within the iconic Italian brand.

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